Requiem for an Adventurer (Collaboration)
by jdubbam
Summary: Inspired by D.D. Danger's "Remorse of an Adventurer". In an alternate take on "The Storm", Hilda is fatally injured in the weather station's collapse. Left with a void that could never thought to be filled again, her loved ones struggle to cope with their loss while an old threat prepares a three-way vengeance. Cover by Newgame LD.
1. Prologue: The Unthinkable

**_DISCLAIMER_**

The following story, as you could probably already assume by its' premise and rating, contains a number of themes and elements not suitable for younger readers (more specifically, the source material's main target demographic) or those who are generally turned off by darkfics. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

Also available on Archive of Our Own, alongside any and all of my other/future works.

* * *

**jdubbam Presents**

**In Association with Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd**

**Requiem for an Adventurer**

* * *

"_...the good thing about loved ones is they eventually die, too. Then everybody's together again. That's why the hardest thing about dying is leaving all your stuff behind._"

\- The Librarian

* * *

Once upon a time, in a world that was simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar to ours', there lived a young, blue-haired girl with a knack for adventure named Hilda. Unlike most children around her age, Hilda had an upbringing that was as outlandish as it was incredible. For all of her life, she, her loving mother, Johanna, and her trusty deerfox, Twig, lived a mostly picturesque life in the wilderness, where she would often get entangled with creatures of all shapes and sizes.

But with all the good things in life, it was not to last forever.

Some time ago, a long-ongoing fued between her family and a community of tiny, invisible elves had set off a chain of events that ultimately culminated in the unintentional destruction of her house in the wilderness by the hands (or moreso foot) of a giant named Jorgen, forcing the family and their newfound friend, a knowledgeable elf named Alfur, to move into the city of Trolberg. There, Hilda made with two other children named Frida and David, joined the Sparrow Scouts, and, for the first time in her life, went to school in person. Despite initial reservations of whether or not she would be able to sustain her life as an adventurer in such a different environment, Hilda found herself in for a shock when they, if anything, became grander than they had ever been before. For the first time in her life, she felt as if everything in her life was truly and surely right, and that even in the most perilous of times, she would always come out with friends and family by her side.

But that was not to last forever, either.

One day, what at first seemed like a simple bout of rain had evolved into a fierce snowstorm - one which threatened to completely bury the city by morning if not stopped. With the help of David and an accomplice on one of her previous adventures, a goofy but loyal Thunderbird named Raven, Hilda made a daring travel to the Trolberg Weather Station to come to the aid of her favorite meteorologist, Victoria Van Gale, and potentially get to the bottom an increasingly harrowing storm.

Prior to their arrival, it was all but clear where the source of the problem laid - an argument between a group of Weather Spirits, which Raven had voiced his suspicions about earlier. And although Hilda and Raven managed to settle the argument, they were faced with an even greater revelation when David's snooping led them to the true culprit of the storm: Victoria Van Gale herself, who had been keeping a baby Weather Spirit in a containment unit...

* * *

**\- Prologue: The Unthinkable -**

**Trolberg Weather Station**

"No, don't! Please, you don't know what I had to do to catch it!"

"**_I DON'T CARE!_**"

Hilda made her way towards the containment unit where the baby Weather Spirit was being held, intent on freeing it despite the protests of her former idol, Victoria Van Gale.

She had turned the key, and one push of the button marked its' freedom. But the containment unit had exploded with all the energy it used to keep it contained, sending Hilda flying back and knocking her out.

Victoria was able to escape to a cable car in time as the light show had finally ceased and both Weather Spirits were safe. But the explosions had ruptured the foundation, causing the whole place to collapse.

...and the Weather Spirits didn't take Hilda with them this time.

"NOOO!" Victoria screamed as the station broke apart.

Meanwhile within the station, Hilda was still unconscious. She seemed to float in the air for a moment as the debris fell to the bottom of the mountain. Then she was crushed underneath the rubble as it crashed down.

Back at the cable car, Victoria was distraught at the loss of her life's work until something startled her. It was Raven landing on the cable car. "What happened? WHERE'S HILDA?!" He demanded.

But then Raven realized that Hilda was still in the building when it collapsed.

"Oh… no…"

* * *

Back at the bottom of the mountain, Hilda woke up, agony radiating throughout her body. She could barely see anything or breathe, and she couldn't feel her legs.

When she mustered the energy to take one look behind her, she immediately knew why.

Yet at the same time, she wished dearly that she hadn't.

A big piece of concrete had landed on both of her legs. The brunt of the impact had crushed them and pinned her down on the spot, rendering her immobilized.

After taking a few seconds to process the grisly sight, Hilda began to let out several panicked breaths. And in the place of those breaths quickly came a series of shrill, bone-chilling screams.

"HEEEEELP! SOMEBODY! _ANYBODY!_ _HELP ME, __**PLEASE!**_"

Hilda tearfully pleaded and yelled as loud as she could, her voice already hoarse from her torrent of anguished and frightened screams. But it was muffled by all the debris on top of her. Nobody - if they were even around - could hear her.

She tried to move around, but couldn't. Then she felt something stick into her, which dug deeper as she tried to get up. She had been stabbed by a broken pipe, median streams of crimson flowing from the area in excess.

Desperate to get out, she tried to move her arms in the unbelievably cramped space, a feat not made any easier by the grueling pain. It didn't get her anywhere, as she only managed to obtain an awkward grip on the pipe. As expected, it wouldn't budge, even with her best efforts. That did not deter Hilda, who pushed through her misery to try and pull it out.

With each failed attempt to remove the pipe, Hilda's struggles grew more and more resolute. Through many choked sobs and groans of agony, she tugged on it with what might she had in her.

After a few more minutes, Hilda looked to see that the pipe still hadn't moved an inch from where it entered. Knowing full well that she would only bring more pain onto herself by doing so, Hilda shakily laid her blood-stained palm over it.

By now, she had grown so weak that she wasn't as able to pull on it as strongly. The blue-haired girl could only watched as it slid off due to the blood that caked it.

And then...it hit her.

At this point in her life, Hilda knew that she was no stranger when it came to harrowing or even life-threatening experiences, whether it be risking nearly being ground into pieces to rescue the Vittra, challenging the Marra to see if they had what it took to frighten her, or when she accidentally endangered the souls of her Mum and David.

Despite it all, she would always find herself being able to shake them off, as it was her own philosophy that such happenings were common for an adventurer such as herself.

But this wasn't one of those times.

Her cries would never reach the outside world. She had never felt more alone. And every time she tried to instill confidence in herself, it was getting less and less helpful, as the excruciating pain kept shutting it down.

"No…not like this…" She sobbed.

At what first seemed like a miracle, she had managed to get the pipe out of her. But the miracle quickly wore off as the stab wound bled profusely. She couldn't keep one arm on the wound while using her last free limb to try to get herself free.

It was the perfect death trap.

With her resolve dissipated and the reality of her situation taking full mental hold, Hilda broke down completely. She wailed and sobbed with guttural, haunting crescendo over the hopelessness and futility of it all.

"No, no, please no... please... no please..." She said in a erratic, despaired mantra.

Eventually, Hilda resigned herself to her fate as her vision began to tunnel out.

"Mum... I... I want my... muh..." were her last words right before she passed out.

* * *

Back in Trolberg, word of the station's collapse had spread like a raging fire. Johanna had gotten home in the evening, greeted by a worried Twig.

"Oh, Twig. None of the neighbors have seen her. Where could she be?" She said. But this time, Alfur wasn't constantly trying to pass an elf mail to her. She had began stress eating some Jorts.

Soon after, she made a phone call to David and Frida's parents.

**A few minutes later...**

Unfortunately, they hadn't seen her either.

"No? Well, thanks for checking._ Please_ keep an eye out, and let me know if you see her."

"Of course. I know adequate supervision can be so hard for a single parent."

As she took a second to take in that statement, Johanna hung up out of frustration and then sighed.

"Twig... what if she's...what if she's…" She trailed off soon before turning on the TV to see if the news had anything. The channel opened to a live feed of the debris of the station. Workers had been digging through the rubble to see what they could find. Then they came across a person buried within it.

It was a twelve year old girl with blue hair that was extremely wounded.

The instant Johanna saw her, her eyes grew as wide as saucers.

"_...Oh my god_." She muttered internally to herself. "_No…it can't be true. No..._" She got up quickly and darted out of the house with Twig following behind.

"_It can't be true, it can't be true, it can't be true!_" Johanna thought to herself along the way. Her thoughts nearly clouded her judgement as she soon realized that her car was veering onto the wrong side of the road and nearly crashed into someone.

"Aah!" But she steered back to the right side just before anything nasty could've happened. "I'M SO SORRY! I JUST...I HAVE SOMEWHERE I REALLY NEED TO BE RIGHT NOW!" Johanna apologized, though she didn't pay any mind to the obscenities the pedestrian was shouting at her.

* * *

She eventually made it to the site where Hilda was. There was a camera crew and a crowd of people. "_I hope I'm not too late…_" She thought. Johanna advanced towards the crowd, and soon found herself pushing through the multiple people in it, still lost in her thoughts until she caught a glimpse of her daughter.

"Hey. Back up." A cop told her.

"But that's my daughter!" She pushed past the last person until she reached the clearing where Hilda lay.

It was worse than she could have ever imagined. The bandages on her were flooded and leaking with blood.

Johanna put her hands over her mouth, utterly horrified by her daughter's battered, broken state.

"**_WHAT HAPPENED?!_**" Johanna cried.

"We found her under the rubble. She's hurt bad." The cop told her. "Paramedics did all they could, but they said she may not pull through."

Johanna rushed over to Hilda's side and took her hand. "Hilda… please…wake up…"

After what felt like an eternity, Hilda's eyes slowly came open.

"Hilda... it's me..."

Hilda's eyes looked into her mother's, both filled with tears. Twig was nudging Hilda as well.

"...M-muuhhh…Mum?"

"I'm here, Hilda…everything's...everything's going to be alright, just stay with me!"

"M…Mum…" Hilda struggled to say. She was on the verge of fading again. "It…hurts…"

Their vision still locked on one another, Johanna took the time to observe her daughter's injuries.

"I'm…through,…Mum…" Hilda muttered.

"No… No, you aren't! Don't you dare utter those words! We'll get you somewhere - a place with the best doctors in the entire city! It can't be far away!"

The sound of ambulances approaching could be heard. "See, Hilda? You're gonna be alright." Johanna said in frantic reassurance.

But then she saw that Hilda's eyes were closed.

"Hilda? … HILDA?!"

Her daughter's hand had lost its strength on hers. Hilda's head fell back onto the ground as she breathed her last. Twig tried tapping on Hilda, getting more and more panicked and letting out multiple whimpers.

_**"HILDA!"**_ Johanna shrieked.

She got up close to listen for any sign of a heartbeat.

All was silent.

Hilda's little heart beat no more, her suffering at long last having reached a merciful end.

"…Hilda…" Johanna blubbered as tears began to fill her eyes. In one last resort of desperation, she tried to give her daughter CPR, but it was no use.

Hilda...her little adventurer, her pride and joy, her only child, her baby, was gone forever.

There would never be another game of Dragon Panic. Never another day where she would be greeted by her after a long and exhausting day of work. No more searching through her hair to get the Nittens out. No more listening to recollections of her latest escapade. No more tucking her to bed and kissing her good night.

And then the ambulance pulled up. The doctors came out with health monitor devices. It was flatlined across the board.

"We have no vitals." One of the doctors said. "We are so sorry."

* * *

_**Autopsy Report**_

An autopsy was performed on the body of

Hilda [DATA EXPUNGED]

Age at Death: 12

at the MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF TROLBERG

**Trolberg on October 28th, [DATA EXPUNGED] 1741 HOURS**

**Causes of Death:**

• Internal Bleeding

• Severe Stab Wound of Chest

• Possible Heart Attack

• Blunt Force Head Trauma

• Possible Oxygen Deprivation

• Legs Crushed by Heavy Object

• Broken Rib

• Severe Blood Loss

**Anatomical Summary**

**1**. Stab wound #1 to chest, potentially fatal

**A.** Entry: Abdomen

**B.** Direction: [Inconclusive: The foreign object seemed to have been removed but a bloodstained pipe found on the scene may likely be the cause.]

**C.** Path: [Inconclusive: See B]

**D.** Estimated depth of penetration: No greater than 8 cm

...

* * *

**To Be Continued in Chapter 1: Requiem for an Adventurer**

**Story Concept by jdubbam**

**Written by jdubbam, Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd**

**Special Thanks: D.D. Danger, FusionBlueCore**

**Inspired by "Remorse of an Adventurer" by D.D. Danger**


	2. Requiem For an Adventurer

**Previously…**

* * *

Hilda had freed the Weather Spirit from its prison in Victoria Van Gale's lab - but in doing so, had paid a mortal price. This time, the Weather Spirit did not retrieve her before taking off, resulting in Hilda falling along with the ruins of the weather station and to her demise.

She had barely managed to stay alive until she could share one final moment with her mum before she passed away.

In the hours following her death, Hilda's efforts to save the city did not go unnoticed. David and Raven relayed the whole story to the authorities, with a disgraced and repentant Victoria confirming it to be true. As for Victoria, she had been set for trial and charged on accounts of child endangerment/manslaughter, creature trafficking, and imperiling all of Trolberg through her actions. While her court date was scheduled for the following year, it was all but certain she would be spending the rest of her days locked away.

A couple of days later, a wake and funeral for Hilda were scheduled and arranged to occur at Sparrow Scout HQ. It had only made sense for her to be buried somewhere in an area close to the wilderness.

**And now, the continuation…**

* * *

**\- Chapter 1: Requiem for an Adventurer -**

**Sparrow Scout HQ**

**Morning**

David stared blankly into the space out of the window of his parents' car. Word of Hilda's death had spread through the city at a rate even faster than the destruction of the weather station. He recalled the day when it all went down. He had been beating himself up over his self-perceived uselessness when his desire to overcome it and his suspicions towards Victoria came to a head, leading to the discovery of the baby Weather Spirit. He never would've imagined that'd be the last that he'd ever see of Hilda. The thought of it was indecipherable - her plan to "moderate" the arguing Weather Spirits, as insane and dangerous as it sounded, had gone off with little a hitch - only for her to be done in a mere moments later in a twist of grim irony.

Frida's arrival snapped him out of his reflections. "Frida?" David called. "You came?"

"Yeah…" She sighed grievously. A while before the storm, Frida had called upon Hilda and David for their help in a matter pertaining to her bedroom, sending them on a wild goose chase to a cemetery that eventually amounted to nothing. In the midst of a heated falling out, Frida had said something to Hilda that hurt her deeply. And knowing that Hilda was now gone forever, she had felt responsible and guilty, worsened tenfold by the fact she would never even be able to apologize to her.

The two friends, having not spoken to each other since then, exchanged a momentary period of silence until Frida had broken it.

"...I did this."

"What?" David inquired, bewildered by her statement.

"If I wasn't so mean…none of this would've happened…" Frida stated, tearfully and shamefully looking at the ground.

"Frida…"

"She only tried to help me...and I threw it in her face…"

"Everyone, gather around. It is time." A voice called out, revealing to be Raven Leader. Upon hearing her, David and Frida followed her alongside several others inside the building. The crowd was in for a surprise when The Great Raven arrived from above, but their emotions reset back to their glum state soon afterwards.

* * *

Hilda's casket was situated on the stage for all to see. The sight of it was enough to strike untapped emotions in even the most hardened of individuals in the crowd. At the corner of their eyes, David and Frida saw that the Vittra were there too. However, they had chosen to remain outside so that they wouldn't disturb the crowd.

Even the the Lost Clan, as well as the likes of Trevor and Ms. Hallgrim, had arrived to pay their respects. Their presence served as a reminder that while her time there was brief, Hilda's days in Trolberg, as well as her untimely death, had impacted everyone in one way or another.

"Let us begin." Raven Leader began. "A few days ago, we've lost a brave adventurer and kindhearted Sparrow Scout. She had always tried to see the good in others, and did everything and anything she could to bring that good out. We shan't forget her for that."

Raven Leader stepped aside to speak with someone. "Is her mum here?"

"I'm here." Johanna stood up.

"Johanna, was it? Would you do the honors of doing the eulogy?"

After momentarily taking in her breath, Johanna answered with a "Yes" and walked to the front of the stage. She took a moment before before beginning.

"My daughter… she was… the most endearing, loving soul I've ever known. A compassionate… smart… and brave little girl. The best that I could have ever asked for. She always tried to lighten up the lives of everyone she met. Even at her own expense…" Johanna said. "Even if it meant… her life…"

She fought the urge to look away upon finishing the sentence. She had to keep her composure. It was the most she could do now for Hilda's sake.

"I've… never imagined I'd have to live without her. And now that I do… I don't know… I don't know where to go from here… I miss her… so much..."

Johanna wrestled with her urge once more, trying to recollect herself. "It is said that children learn many things from others far beyond their age...but rarely do we ever acknowledge what we can learn from them. Hilda taught me there was almost always something more to certain things in the world. That we should never instantaneously assume anyone from first glance, despite how intimidating they may seem. If there was one thing that she would want most of all...it's for all of us to keep that very idea in mind."

* * *

As she tried to continue her eulogy, she kept tripping on her words before anything could come out. Eventually, it had gotten to the point where she just couldn't take it anymore. She ran outside to concerned and surprised murmurs, and after taking a few deep breaths, slowly walked to where her car was parked. She couldn't bear to see her daughter in the coffin any longer, much less being buried.

Having locked the door, Johanna was at long last able to manifest the extent of the pain she had fought so hard to repress during the eulogy. She remembered the exact sight of Hilda's body being taken away on a stretcher and into the ambulance. How much she was still unwilling to believe it all. How desperately she wanted to tell herself that even after witnessing her last words and breaths first-hand, it was all some sort of horrid, appalling dream she would wake up from any second now. That none of it was real. That Hilda was still at home, safe and sound... but she knew that she couldn't have even begun to try and convince herself.

Because it was all too real.

Then she heard a knock to her left. It was one of the Vittra - more precisely, the same one that Hilda had encountered during her first foray in the Sparrow Scouts. He looked just as crestfallen as the rest.

"Hey. I don't mean to bother you, but… what you said about her… that was beautiful." The Vittra said. "Look… I could've treated her better when we met… you above-grounders can be troublesome at times, but you really aren't as bad as we thought." He admitted. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, it's...fine, I guess." Johanna responded. It was evident from her ached-sounding voice and reddened eyes that she had been weeping for a good while. "Look… I just need time to be alone for now".

"Uh… alright…" Heeding her request, the Vittra walked away back to where his people had been.

Twig could eventually be seen coming out of the building and walking towards Johanna's car with Alfur riding on top, both in tears. The deerfox had hopped through the window and sat where Hilda usually would've been.

They had all gone back home long before the funeral procession had started toward St. Guglows Cemetery.

* * *

She didn't know how long it had been. At most, a couple or so hours...actually, maybe even more than that?

Whatever the case, it didn't matter to Johanna in the slightest. When they had arrived home, she had gotten into more some standard clothing, donning a black t-shirt in place of her usual red sweater.

She had been lying on the couch before getting up to take one last look at her late daughter's room and the things in it, devastated by the fact that nobody would use it anymore.

After a full minute of silence, she turned back and returned to the living room and collapsed onto the couch. Her bottled up emotions had gotten the best of her once more, and she began crying herself of all her tears throughout the duration of the night.

Her life as she knew it was over in the worst way imaginable.

And there was nothing she could do to revert that.

* * *

**To Be Continued in ****Chapter 2: The Vacancy**

**Story Concept by jdubbam**

**Written by jdubbam, Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd **

**Special Thanks: D.D. Danger, FusionBlueCore**

**Inspired by "Remorse of an Adventurer" by D.D. Danger**


	3. The Vacancy

**Previously…**

* * *

Hilda's funeral was held at the Sparrow Scout HQ, with attendees from all over Trolberg. Her mother had attempted to deliver a eulogy, but ended up suffering an emotional breakdown.

**And now, the continuation…**

* * *

**\- Chapter 2: ****The Vacancy -**

**Frida's House**

**Evening**

Frida was sitting on the sofa, curled up in a ball, crying quietly. She still couldn't forgive herself for letting Hilda die.

At the corner of her tear-blurred vision, there had been a green flash. It was Kelly, but instead of looking bored and apathetic...she looked a little unhappy. Pissed off, even. Despite knowing why she showed up, Frida was _not_ in the mood to have it, or talk to mostly anyone for that matter. "Leave me alone, Kelly." She demanded.

"You went to that funeral, didn't you?" Kelly asked.

"What did you expect me to do?" Frida answered. "And I'm not going to tell you again: LEAVE. _ME._ _**ALONE.**_"

"I expected you NOT to go, because I warned you not to." Kelly said. "Now look at you. You're totally discombobulated. But hey, what do I know? Guess I shouldn't have expected you to know better anyh-"

"_**SHUT UP!**_" Frida roared. "I went there because she was my _**FRIEND** -_ A thousand times the one that you could ever _hope_ to be!"

Kelly had been taken aback by her interjection, but managed to regain her cruelly aloof demeanor. "...So that's how it is? After everything that I did to try and help you?"

"_YOU NEVER HELPED ME FOR A MOMENT!_ This has always been about you from the start! For as long as we've known each other, you've _never_ cared about how I felt, what I liked, or just me in general! Hilda did… and I'm not trading her, David, or anyone else for the likes of _you_. Never again. I am _done._ Get out of my house, Kelly… and don't come back."

Upon those words, Kelly left as soon as she came, the "friendship" now having clearly reached an end. Though if Frida hadn't curled back up after her outburst, she might have noticed the indignant, baleful scowl on her face…

* * *

**St. Guglows Cemetery**

**Daytime**

_In Loving Memory of_

_Hilda [DATA EXPUNGED]_

_Sep 21, _ - Oct 28, _ (12 Years of age)_

was written on her Gravestone. It had been a few days since her funeral, and she had since been buried. The dry and lifeless winds blew the fallen leaves across the cemetery underneath the equally bleak grey skies.

David had accompanied Johanna so she wouldn't be alone. Her words were trapped at the back of her throat. Eventually, David had broken the silence. "It just isn't fair…" He said.

"I know, David. I know…" Johanna mumbled. After another period of silence…

"It was… just when I was starting to get used to her. She helped me overcome my nightmares. She tried to help Frida. She saved the city too." David rambled. "Why are good people only noticed by many… when they're gone?"

Soon, an old man came out of the nearby chapel. He was the caretaker of the cemetery, Father Darby. "Hello, visitors." Darby greeted.

"Hi…" Johanna mumbled as Darby stood by them, overlooking the grave.

"...You were her mother, were you not...?" He asked. Johanna was silent.

"Listen. I know how it can be. I've overseen countless burials. Most of the time on untimely passings, their parents are overcome with grief and can't bring themselves to attend."

Johanna placed a flower on her daughter's grave and backed away slowly. "My little Hilda...she died for simply doing the right thing…she never hurt or did anything to anyone…"

"But she wouldn't want you to stay like this, to be stuck grieving for her, would she? I have a feeling she'd want you to be strong. To keep going."

"I… I don't know…" Johanna said. "I don't know if I can."

In truth, her subconscious was telling her that the man was right. As horrific as circumstances like these were, they were still an occurrence that left the people they affected with no other choice but to face and accept them, for the sake of themselves, their loved ones, and those who had since then passed on.

But what her heart was telling her was a whole other story on its' own.

When Hilda was alive...it was as if everything seemed right. Seemed whole. She still couldn't even begin to imagine what life would be like without her now…no. It wasn't a "couldn't".

It was a clear-cut _wouldn't._

Some parents who were unfortunate enough to outlive their own child would eventually move on. But not her. She knew Hilda better than anyone else would've. She had been with her from the start, from every moment, nearly EVERY DAY, right until the very end where she had died in her arms. And then came along this man - this complete stranger who had NEVER EVEN MET HER - trying to suggest what she would've wanted?

"Please. Do it for her." David said. Johanna looked back at him, and noticed the pleading expression that he had. Her growing temperament had cooled by a margin, but she was still incredibly hesitant if whether or not she had it in her.

* * *

**Johanna's House**

**Evening**

Back at the house, Alfur was sitting by the window of Hilda's room, with Twig laying on her bed nearby. Ever since the incident, there weren't that many other places the two would be. Twig would usually only come out when he had to be fed, but even then he hadn't been showing much of an appetite lately.

Alfur's tears had dried up. He couldn't even bring himself to write reports or do much of anything. All he could ever write was "Hilda has died." before breaking down, and his handwriting had gotten so sloppy that he could no longer read it. Now, he was contemplating moving back to his home in the Northern Counties. He had not been present for Hilda's final adventure, having been busy with reports for the elves. He felt as if he had no business whatsoever being in Johanna's home anymore, let alone trying to comfort her. "I… I don't know if I can stay here… but… if I leave, Mum will be all alone…" Alfur thought to himself. "I may have failed Hilda...but I'm not going to fail anyone else. Especially not now."

But he snapped out of his reflections when he heard a knock at the window. It was none other than Raven again. It was still a little chilly outside due to the only now melting snow.

Alfur hopped up there and strained to open the window, having seen him at the funeral but not having directly spoken with him since the Bird Pirade. The two exchanged a glance before Alfur spoke.

"It's nice to see you again." The elf said, weakly smiling while doing so.

"It's nice to see you too...I felt like checking up and seeing how you guys were doing." Raven replied.

Alfur sighed before going into the details. "We've…been doing. Mum has hardly left the house, but then again, none of us have." They were silent for a moment.

"I could've saved her…" Raven said.

"What? " Alfur asked.

"At first, when I saw the collapsed building, I thought she was already dead…" Raven admitted. "I… I didn't even bother to check if she was there. If I had just WENT AND SAW, I could've gotten her the help she needed! She could've lived...but I had already messed up by not just taking her along with David when the whole place was on the verge of falling apart. If I'd known that this would happen...I would've never left her behind...some Great Raven I turned out to be." While he didn't outright state it, the tone of his voice was enough to get his feelings of guilt and failure across, which did not go unnoticed by Alfur.

Now that Alfur thought about it, he didn't even go with Hilda at all during that escapade. Maybe… just maybe if he did, things would've been different.

"Alfur...does this kind of feeling ever go away? The type where there's a part of you that just feels...empty, something that may never be filled again? And that maybe...you really don't deserve to have that part be filled again?"

As old as he was, the Great Raven had been through a multitude of experiences. And from those experiences, he would often find himself gaining many new emotions. Happiness, sadness, anger, hope, fear…but the emotion he was feeling now was something that was utterly foreign to him. Something akin to sadness, but...worse.

Hopelessness.

"I don't know, Raven. I don't know…" Alfur murmured. They were silent for a few minutes.

"I'll see you some other time, Alfur. Bye…" Raven bid before flying off into the sunset.

* * *

The days had gone by…but for them, life had all but seemed to have came at an utter standstill. Johanna had almost never moved from the couch in the days that followed. Alfur tried to be of aid, but it didn't amount to much.

As for Twig, without Hilda, he almost never came out of her old room unless he needed to be fed. Deep down, he reminisces how he met Hilda and how she took him under her wing.

Johanna hadn't even gone to to her job in weeks, as the Graphic Design company she worked for had caught wind of what had happened and allowed her a paid vacation. But at her current rate, it was looking as if she'd be resigning soon on her own volition.

As for David, it was much more of a struggle than he could've imagined to get his normal life without Hilda back into working order. He hadn't heard from Frida or Johanna since the funeral or the visit to Hilda's grave respectively.

After some time, Frida had managed to bring herself to finish cleaning her room on her own. She hadn't seen Kelly since their falling out, though it wasn't like she was hoping to anytime soon. But even if she had officially taken responsibility for her own tidiness, it did nothing to ease the thought that she was indirectly responsible for what had transpired at the weather station.

* * *

**To Be Continued in ****Chapter 3: The Loose End **

**Story Concept by jdubbam**

**Written by jdubbam, Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd **

**Special Thanks: D.D. Danger, FusionBlueCore**

**Inspired by "Remorse of an Adventurer" by D.D. Danger**


	4. The Loose End

**Previously…**

* * *

Frida had a nasty falling out with her abusive 'friend' Kelly, who promptly left the house.

The following day, David and Johanna visited Hilda's grave and grieved over it. Then the priest of the nearby church, Father Darby tried to reassure them.

The next few days consisted of them feeling empty and lonely in Hilda's absence.

**And now, the continuation…**

* * *

**\- Chapter 3: ****The Loose End -**

**David's House**

**Late Night**

David was asleep in his bed, tossing and turning. He was having a nightmare. "N… no… stop… please…" He cried, his closed eyes welling with tears. But his nightmare abruptly stopped. An ominous green mist dissipating above him. It was the work of a Marra.

Then he heard something hit his window. It was Frida. She had thrown something at the window.

"Frida?! What are you doing here so late?"

"Come on, we gotta go to the cemetery! I have an idea." Frida shouted in a muted tone so she wouldn't wake up people.

"Uh… alright. I'll be down there in just a minute." David got dressed in his usual clothes and went down outside to Frida, managing not to trip the apartment's security system or wake his parents.

"David...are...you okay?" Frida hadn't taken note of it while she was by the window, but now that she was able to get a good look at David, it was clear that he wasn't. His hair was disheveled, and his eyes were red and baggy.

"...no." He bluntly answered. "My nightmares...they've...been getting worse than ever."

"But… the Marra said she wouldn't come back." Frida replied. "Unless… … oh god..."

"What is it?" David asked.

"They would have known about what happened to Hilda…" But then a second chill went down Frida's spine as a thought crossed her mind. But she kept silent until they reached their destination.

* * *

**St. Guglows Cemetery**

**The Wee Hours of the Morning**

David and Frida had arrived at Hilda's grave with little issue.

"There it is." Frida said. "Now, if I recall correctly, I just gotta roll it over the grave." Frida pulled out the awakening rod and began rolling it over Hilda's grave. This made David a little nervous because it was only just barely a month or two after she passed away.

After a few rolls, nothing seemed to be happening. "I don't understand. What are we missing?" Frida wondered.

"Wait… didn't Hilda say something that made this thing go crazy?" David asked.

"I think so. I gotta remember what she said." Frida inhaled. "'Deep in the earth your moldering bones for posterity lay, but on this night, they stir and moan when you come out to play.' I think that's what she said."

"That's gotta be it." David said as Frida continued rolling. But… nothing was happening at all. The rod didn't even levitate as it should have.

"What are we doing wrong?!" Frida shouted in frustration.

"Dyin' prematurely is much harder to overcome than of old age." A familiar voice said. The two turned around to see that it was Craigie Williams. "Especially if you have many regrets in life."

"Craigie…?" Frida said. "What does this mean for Hilda?"

"Well, Regrets and Premature death is an extremely bitter combination. I heard that just days before her passing, you and her had a nasty falling out, and that left her really depressed." Craigie explained.

"She… will be able to live on as a ghost. Right…?" David asked.

"I don't know, kid. The average person who dies prematurely could take decades to become a ghost. It might not even be within your lifetimes."

"No…" Frida said. "She wasn't just 'average'. She was… exceptional."

"Whether or not that helps her live on before too long is yet to be seen." Craigie explained. "You know… how about I go clean your room one last time? It's the least I could do."

"You don't have to… because I've cleaned it on my own."

"...Really? Oh, my sweet Frida. Already, you've grown up so much." Craigie hugs Frida, wiping away her tears. "I'll let you know what happens with her, if anything does."

"Thank you." Frida said.

"Now, off you go. I wish you both the best for the future." Craigie bid shortly before David and Frida left the cemetery.

* * *

**Johanna's House**

**Morning**

"...In other news, local authorities are yet to have obtained any progress towards the whereabouts of Victoria Van Gale. The disgraced meteorologist was last seen at the cable car station that led to the Weather Station. City officials have reportedly offered a cash reward of up to $5,000 dol-"

Johanna had promptly changed the channel, not wanting to be reminded of her loss once more.

"-ow, some are calling it 'the Beast of Trolberg.'. Some are calling it 'the Black Hound.'. With more alleged sightings filed overnight, the one thing we know for certain is that it's got the city talking. But, what is this creature? And does it have any connection to the recent wave of disappeara-"

And with that, she shut the television off completely. She sat down in silence for a while, but something was gnawing at her head. For one indecipherable reason or another, she simply couldn't get the name out of her head. Victoria Van Gale. It kept playing back in her mind like a faulty record that refused to expire.

She buried her face in the sofa cushions out of frustration, but the name wouldn't get out of her head. _Why?_ Why was this name so important? Why couldn't she repress it anymore?

This was when she had realized something. At first, she thought that if Hilda didn't sneak behind her back and do the last thing she'd ever want her to do, go on an adventure in secret, she would still be alive. But now, she realized that if she didn't, she and everyone else in the city would have long since been buried at the bottom of an enormous mountain of snow by now.

Perhaps… if Victoria Van Gale never did whatever she did, none of this would've happe-

...and at that moment, like the final piece of a puzzle that had been previously missing, it all came together.

This was _HER _doing.

It was all Victoria's fault. There was no other explanation! For all she knew, Victoria Van Gale _**MURDERED HER DAUGHTER!**_

Visions played out in her mind. It showed Hilda shutting down the weather control systems, but Victoria rigged a self destruction system in the weather station. Hilda was caught in the blast and taken down with the wreckage to her doom, and Victoria left with an evil smirk on her face.

But she snapped out of it when Alfur came by. "Mum. What's wrong?"

"Victoria. She's the one who did it. She took my Hilda from me." For the first time in what seemed like forever, Johanna's voice had taken on a different tone. One that seemed to be resolved. Indignant.

_**Vengeful. **_

Johanna got up and began her detective work. "She can't have gotten far."

"What are you talking about?" Alfur asked. The answer that he feared was fairly obvious, but he wouldn't believe that Johanna would go out of her way to try and see it through - at least, not without a direct confirmation.

"I won't rest until I find her."

"Mum…you're not going to do what I think you're going to do…"

"I'm not letting her have the satisfaction. I can't let her get away with this." She went back to her easel and grabbed a map of the land Trolberg occupied.

"The weather station was on this mountain… the only way off was by cable car… that leads back to the city." She muttered.

"Mum...Johanna, don't do this!" Alfur protested.

"Alfur, I want you to stay behind."

"If you're going anyway… well… I didn't go with Hilda… and you know what happened next."

She knelled down to him. "Alfur. _Listen._ This is the only chance I have. If you come along, you'll try to stop me."

"Please. You know that this isn't going to bring her back."

"I know it won't. But I'm not gonna let this happen to anyone else. I have to stop her before she can do any more damage."

Alfur looked to the side despondently. It was clear that any further efforts to get through to his grieving acquaintance on some level would be for naught. Johanna had expected to receive this sort of reaction, but at the same time, it did not make the decision easy. She left the living room to continue with her work, but not before giving a glance of regret towards the elf.

* * *

**Daybreak**

The next day, Alfur woke up to find out that Johanna had indeed stuck to her word. As she did her detective work the other day, Alfur made a mental note of her findings in case she did leave, so now he at least knew where to find her. But he couldn't do it on his own.

"Twig!" Alfur called out, the deerfox perking up at the mention of his name. "We gotta go find David and Frida."

He went over to a nearby phonebook, hoping that he would find anything pertaining to the addresses of David and Frida's parents. After minutes of searching, he was able to find them, and managed to make a call.

"Hello?" It was David's mother.

"Hello, it's me, Alfur. A friend of Johanna's. I need to speak with your son, please."

* * *

**To Be Continued in ****Chapter 4: The Undertaking**

**Story Concept by jdubbam**

**Written by jdubbam, Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd **

**Special Thanks: D.D. Danger, FusionBlueCore**

**Inspired by "Remorse of an Adventurer" by D.D. Danger**


	5. The Undertaking

**Previously…**

* * *

After David had a terrible nightmare at the hands of a Marra, Frida called for him in the dead of night and took him back to the graveyard to perhaps draw out Hilda's ghost. But when it didn't seem to work, Craigie Williams appeared to them to tell them the truth, that Hilda would most likely take a long time to gain her ghost form...if she would even be able to gain it within their lifetimes.

Back at home, Johanna couldn't get Victoria Van Gale out of her head until she realized that she must have been responsible for Hilda's death. Despite Alfur's protests, Johanna had done detective work to try and deduce Victoria's whereabouts. Now that she was out and about, Alfur decided to go to the only people he had immediate contact with who he knew he could count on: Hilda's friends.

**And now, the continuation…**

* * *

**\- Chapter 4: ****The Undertaking -**

**David's House**

**Sunrise**

"She's doing _**WHAT?**_"

When David had gotten on the phone with Alfur, he know right off the bat that whatever it was he wanted to talk to him about wasn't good. Through he had somewhat grown accustomed to expecting the worst outcomes or answers to something, to hear that Hilda's mother was going on a mission like this with the knowledge that she might not even come back from it still proved to be a shellshock.

"What good news I _can_ say," Alfur began, "was that her findings were precise enough so that I have a clear idea of where she could be, but I'm going to need your help."

"But how are we supposed to get to her?" David asked. "For what we know, she could be miles from Trolberg by now!"

That, Alfur was unsure of. His first thought was to seek out Raven, but it was likely that he wasn't in the city. Their only other, and significantly more life-threatening option, would be to travel outside Trolberg on foot. And in this case, time was most definitely not on their side when it came to making a decision.

"I'll contact Frida. We'll meet up with you at Hilda's." David said.

"What's going on?" David's father asked.

"Hilda's mum has completely lost it. I'll need to meet up with my friends. Could we pick up Frida and get us over to Hilda's?"

"Certainly."

* * *

**Frida's House**

Frida had been waiting by her front door for several minutes now. She had been half-asleep when she had gotten the call, but the instant that David explained everything that was going on, her senses had kicked into overdrive. Her attention, however, was temporarily diverted when she heard the panicked voices from a nearby bedroom.

Her _parents' _bedroom.

She immediately made a mad dash to see what was the source of their frightened pleas and hopefully aid them...and that was when she was greeted with the last face she had ever hoped to see again, which promptly vanished in a fine green mist. It had been none other than the work of Kelly. Frida couldn't have even begun to imagine that she was capable of holding such contempt towards someone else.

"Mum! Dad! Are you alright?!" Frida exclaimed, running over to the side of her parents.

"Oh, Frida. Thank god… I can't remember the last time I had a nightmare this bad…" Her father said.

"It was a Marra. I saw her." Frida explained. "I had to deal with another one of them some months ago with Hilda and David. But… it was Kelly. The one who attacked you was Kelly."

"Your… friend?"

"No. She's no friend of mine." Frida said shortly before a knock at the door could be heard. "I think those are my _real _ones. Gotta go." She went to answer it.

Frida opened the door, greeted by David, Alfur, and Twig.

* * *

**Johanna's House**

**Morning**

David's Dad dropped them off at Johanna's apartment, advising them to stay out of trouble as he drove away, especially considering the possible threat of the notorious Black Hound.

Alfur had the keys to the place, so getting inside was a non-issue. Inside now, the group had looked over Johanna's handiwork and were trying to come up with a plan.

"Before she left, I heard her say that there was a cable car that led to a path back to the city, and that she would've wanted to get as far from the city as possible. She also left in her car, so it's more than likely she's gotten farther than we would have been able to reach her on foot. By this time, she might have reached the Great Forest...best case scenario being that she's somewhere around the entrance. "

"So, what are we gonna do?" David asked.

"Our only viable option would be Raven, but...it's been some time since he was last in the city, and I'm not even sure if he will be any time soon.

"Well, we gotta do something. Bikes are our best bet." Frida suggested. "But if we're doing this...that means that we'll have to leave the city."

"I know, I'm asking a lot from you two, but I don't know who else to turn to." Alfur replied.

"It's among the least we could do for her." Frida said, giving a modest smile of reassurance to the elf. "As long as we stick together."

Alfur, albeit weakly, smiled back. "Thank you...it's a long way from Trolberg, and we don't have any time to waste."

* * *

**Trolberg Gates**

After David and Frida had gathered their bikes, the group was all but ready to set out on their journey to find Johanna before anything bad could happen. They safely navigated the traffic and toward the entrance gates.

Alfur rode atop Twig, following David and Frida out of the city.

* * *

**The Great Forest**

**Noon**

In places such as The Great Forest, one would usually take the time to appreciate its tranquil atmosphere - that was, as long as you didn't happen to run into a Forest Giant. But for Johanna, she had little to no time or interest whatsoever for doing so.

It had been about five hours since she had left the house. She had gotten a meager amount of sleep, but took the time to prepare a small breakfast for herself, ensuring that she wouldn't be at a simultaneous disadvantage of insomnia and hunger before getting in her car and driving off.

She had gotten out of her car and continued on foot since the closest road she could take to where Victoria might have been was too far away. Having formerly lived close to the Great Forest prior to the escalation of the Hidden People affair, Johanna found it relatively easy to navigate despite being generally more adapt to city life. The serenity of it all had almost made her wish that they were never forced to move.

And yet, despite this... she simply couldn't find the location she pinned down. The more Johanna traversed, the hazier and more frustrated her mind grew. It wasn't adding up at all.

She knew that it couldn't have been an oversight. Or maybe it was…? No, of course not! Even if that were the case, she had done her work to a T, so maybe she was only slightly off.

As she carried on, she recognized a familiar figure in the distance...one who just so happened to have a levitating head with a leaf on top of it, and a diminutive, vaguely humanoid appearance...one which she hadn't seen since they had moved.

"_The Wood Man…?_" Johanna thought to herself.

Though her mind was telling her to do otherwise, she couldn't help but to seek the answer to that question. Perhaps there was a chance he could've gotten a sight of Victoria.

"Wood Man! What are you doing out here all alone?" she asked while approaching him. No response.

"Wood Man...?" She asked once more, slowly advancing her hand towards him…

...right before he turned his head at a degree angle, his body intact. Johanna was startled on the spot, but regained her composure.

"I'm _not_ alone." The Wood Man stated, before he began speaking in a whispered tone. "Please...don't interrupt. Barch reads faces, I'm trying really hard not to give anything away."

As Johanna looked, she saw what exactly the Wood Man was busy with; he had been in the middle of a card game with a group of elves.

"Erm...sorry. Listen, the reason I came here is because there's someone out here who I need to find. Did any of you see anyone come around here lately?"

An elf turned up to face Johanna. "Uh, well, who in particular?"

"Your daughter wouldn't have happened to come here, did she? I was expecting city life was gonna be difficult for her, but I never thought she would've ran away."

Johanna was silent for a moment before answering. "...Hilda's dead." She was still hardly able to bring herself to say that.

Wood Man, in an unsurprising but nonetheless unusual act, just stood there in disbelief. The last time he had seen Hilda was when they left the Wilderness for Trolberg after their house was destroyed. Prior to that, their relationship, while somewhat complicated, was still mostly amicable. Between the three, he was generally on better terms with Hilda than he was with her mother.

During the evening, despite having his own place to stay, he would frequently barge into their house uninvited when she forgot to close the door, which, needless to say, did not sit well with Johanna. While he was not the one to outright admit it, he did consider Hilda to be a friend, having gone as far as to help her find out more about a mysterious giant named Jorgen and saying his farewells to her when she had moved. Needless to say, being informed of her death invoked a heavy and sudden sense of despondency within his wooden heart.

"...How?"

* * *

**The Great Forest - Entrance**

**Late Afternoon**

After many breaks, mainly David's fault, Frida and co. had finally reached the forest.

"Let's stick together for safety." Frida suggested.

"Now, we gotta find the location where Mum was heading." Alfur said. "Hoo, boy… combing this forest is gonna be a nightmare."

"We have to do this. For all we know, she could be anywhere." Frida says.

Despite her resolve, Alfur was right in a way. The Great Forest was a _massive _place, and one could very easily get lost within it if they didn't take note of its' subtle distinctions. David would probably be a major liability because he'd most likely get lost if he wasn't kept in check.

The group began their search shortly after their arrival, but were unable to find anything that could've pointed to where Johanna was. Fortunately, they would eventually be in luck as a path of tire tracks in the dirt caught Twig's attention. As they followed the deerfox, they were ultimately led to Johanna's car.

David and Frida found it to be a good spot to leave their bikes for the time being, and they continued on foot into the woods.

* * *

**To Be Continued in ****Chapter 5: The Runaway**

**Story Concept by jdubbam**

**Written by jdubbam, Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd **

**Special Thanks: D.D. Danger, FusionBlueCore**

**Inspired by "Remorse of an Adventurer" by D.D. Danger**


	6. The Runaway

As our heroes' respective journeys approach the point of intertwinement, a certain question has yet to have been fully addressed: Just how did Victoria Van Gale fare after the destruction of the Weather Station and her escape from the authorities?

**Now is the time to find out…**

* * *

**\- Chapter 5: The Runaway -**

**The Cable Car Station**

**Months in the Past - Afternoon**

It doesn't take a whole lot for your entire reputation and life to be obliterated beyond any discernible form of repair in the blink of an eye...especially when you're directly responsible for exactly that to begin with.

This was something that Victoria had learnt the hard way...and in the events that followed, she'd find that in comparison to the consequences that really mattered, the loss of her life's work did not even reach the_ halfway point_.

As she trudged, making sure that none of the Trolberg Safety Patrol officers stationed at her Cable Car Station and what remained of the Weather Station noticed her, Victoria briefly thought back to her time in prison.

* * *

**Trolberg Streets**

**Months in the Past - Afternoon**

She figured that at the age she was at, she wouldn't last through whatever sentence she'd be given. She had to escape. To somewhere, anywhere. As long as it was far, far away from Trolberg or any form of civilization for that matter, she'd be home free.

The escape itself was not an easy one to pull off, essentially having been improvised all the way through. While she didn't know the exact ins and outs of the Trolberg Correctional Facility, she had gotten enough of an idea as to what vulnerabilities laid in its' design. Her knowledge and experience of the wilderness that was essential for capturing the Weather Spirit came in handy.

Without someone as resourceful and observant as Hilda or any of her friends and family in the vicinity, she was able to slip through the urban alleys of Trolberg and straight toward the wall unnoticed. As she approached the wall, the guilt that she had already not even bothered trying to repress had taken over her thoughts almost completely.

On her way there, a whole bunch of black cars were passing by. Through the windows, she could barely make out the shape of a coffin. It had undoubtedly been Hilda's…

...and it was all her fault.

"I know you can't hear me…" Victoria said quietly, tears streaming down her face. "But wherever you are...I didn't mean to do this to you. I'm… so sorry..."

* * *

Victoria came out of her thoughts, putting her attention back towards how she was going to successfully get past the Safety Patrol. Breaking out of a prison was one thing, but now that all of the city's law enforcement was after her, she'd really need to think like she never thought before if she wanted to evade capture.

She knew she had to get by while the patrol was focused on the procession. If she made as much as one wrong move, she'd taken back downtown. The only problem was, after observing things further, she found that there were hardly any real options. Patrol members were situated in many positions dotting the path of least resistance. She had been lucky not to have been spotted then and there.

Hiding behind a bush, Victoria decided that maybe if she was fast enough, she'd be able to distract the guard closest to her and get by. Taking a rock as big as her palm, she chucked it near a guard and hid behind the bush, hoping to god that she wouldn't get spotted. Right as the guard noticed the rock, she instantly took the opportunity to run, sliding and then tumbling down a small cliff, though she was fine aside from some minor bruises.

Now, she could easily book it without being spotted if she was careful. Victoria was aware that The Great Forest was somewhere around these parts, and while it was unlikely that anyone wouldn't be sent out looking for her in there, it would at least be a little easier than trying to keep a low profile in a populated city.

* * *

**Later…**

**The Great Forest**

**Months in the Past - Evening**

After hours of walking, normally, she'd be continuing just fine, but the weather wasn't being so kind. In fact, even though the snow caused by the Storm was stopped, the lasting chilly weather persisted. It didn't help matters that the wind was kicking up.

"It's too cold…" Victoria muttered to herself. "And I can still see the town… I've barely even moved."

The clothes she had with her DEFINITELY weren't suited for the cold. As much as a death sentence the Correctional Facility was, at least it gave her a roof to sleep under and some semblance of warmth.

Regardless, she continued into the woods, hoping she could find any kind of shelter to keep her from freezing to death out here.

* * *

**Months in the Past - Night**

The brisk evening breeze retired for the remainder of the day, giving leeway to the unforgiving cold of the dark and cloudy night. Victoria's efforts to find shelter appeared to have been for naught, and she was left with no choice but to settle with what she had.

She found the nearest tree that had a hollowed out area and tried to hole up in there, using the dead leaves surrounding it as a substitute for a bedsheet. But no matter how much she tried, she just couldn't get comfortable.

After a while, she had given up on trying to fall asleep and decided to stay in the hollowed area, planning to continue her progressively aimless trek in the morning. Victoria looked at the full moon that faintly shone through the clouds in the distance, and mulled over her life decisions.

It wasn't enough that she engaged in creature trafficking and endangered the lives of hundreds of people. She had directly caused the death of a child. A young girl who had her entire life ahead of her. And to top it all off..._she was that aforementioned girl's hero_.

"_Maybe it was wrong of me to escape…_" Victoria thought to herself. "_I...deserve to rot in there._"

Her reflections were interrupted with the ever so faint scent of smoke. Or at least, initially ever so faint, as it quickly went to the point where it was near-impossible to ignore. Was she going delirious? Or was this real? Or maybe...the shelter she had been so desperately seeking?

Bringing herself out of the hollow, Victoria decided to follow the scent as far as it was able to take her.

* * *

Did her eyes deceive her, or could she see lights filtering through the trees? They seemed warm and stationary, so it couldn't have been a car. Soon, enough moonlight filtered through the clouds for her to notice the shape of a cabin.

She couldn't last much longer out here, so she ran to it as fast as she could. If she was lucky, maybe no one was inside. But that seemed unlikely, given that the lights were on.

"Hello?" She knocked desperately. "Anyone home?" But nobody came. She knocked a few more times, but there was still no response whatsoever. Not even any movement from within the house or changes in the lighting.

At the very least, this somewhat quelled her fears about anyone being inside and potentially noticing her.

With no other options and the fact that it was getting colder by the minute, she decided to try opening the door. But somehow, it was unlocked. She rushed into the cabin as soon as she felt the warmth emanating from within.

* * *

**The House of Want**

**Months in the Past - Night**

Once inside, the warmth seemed to flow around her like an embrace. She quickly closed the door to keep the cold out. Safe at last. Far away from civilization and lost in the woods, nobody would find her here.

Victoria looked around her new surroundings, taken aback by how proper and pleasant it was in its' interior, and was surprised to see a coffee machine on a counter in the kitchen. It seemed to have just finished brewing a new batch, and a clean mug sat next to it. As odd as the sight was, she couldn't have helped but to pour it and drink it.

With time, she had discovered that anything she wanted would just appear to her in a flash. While she felt like she didn't really deserve this, she wasn't complaining. It was like all the responsibilities and worries she had to deal with were gone. This, in turn led to an unexpected but welcome change of plans: what was meant to be a temporary shelter would now be her hiding place for the foreseeable future.

There was nothing in Trolberg that would've or could've motivated her to return there. At least… not yet.

* * *

**To Be Continued in ****Chapter 6: The Pursuit**

**Story Concept by jdubbam**

**Written by jdubbam, Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd **

**Special Thanks: D.D. Danger, FusionBlueCore**

**Inspired by "Remorse of an Adventurer" by D.D. Danger**


	7. The Pursuit

**Previously…**

* * *

Johanna had left the house and started toward Victoria's possible whereabouts despite Alfur's wishes, and came across the Wood Man. Seeking help, Alfur called upon David and Frida to help to find her before she does something rash.

We've also taken a look at how Victoria Van Gale fared in the time between Hilda's passing and the present.

**And now, the continuation…**

* * *

**\- Chapter 6: The Pursuit -**

**The Great Forest**

**Evening**

The sun was starting to set. Johanna, now accompanied by the Wood Man, who agreed to help after Johanna told him all she knew, was starting to tire herself out. Her constant walking and searching, coupled with the ever increasing rage inside her, did not do her any kind of favor.

"_Every second that passes, the more she slips away. If you quit now, she'll go on to take more lives. You **cannot** lose her._" She thought to herself in a mantra.

"D… Did you hear that?" Wood Man wondered, bringing Johanna out of her mantra.

"Hear what?" she responded.

"I thought I heard a roar." Wood Man answered.

"Please… don't sidetrack us." Johanna scolded.

"You know how the Great Forest is. I actually happen to know a Forest Giant who lives around here, and...well, let's just say it won't be too good for either of us if he catches us."

"We'll worry about that later." Johanna responded.

* * *

Elsewhere in the forest, Frida and co. were following Twig along the trail. But soon, the trail ran cold.

"How could it stop right here?" Alfur wondered. "There's just no way."

"Cruddlesticks...how are we supposed to know where she went now?" David asked.

In the distance, they heard a roar. It sent chills down each of their spines.

"What was that?" Frida wondered.

"I don't know…" Alfur shivered. "...but whatever it is, we need to find Mum and get out of here before it gets us...or her."

"Are you lost?" A loud voice called. The four turned and looked up to find the Forest Giant standing right above them.

"Uh...no, n-not exactly…" a startled Frida answered. However, the giant's expression didn't convey any apparent ill intentions.

"Then what are you little ones doing out here?" The giant asked.

"We're looking for a friend of ours."

"In this forest?" The giant wondered. "I think I saw another human wandering this forest not too long ago."

"You did? Could you tell which way?"

"I can take you there." The giant crouched and offered his hand.

The kids and Alfur looked at each other. They didn't expect such an offering, but it was agreed that it'd be foolish to pass up anything that could get them closer to Johanna. So they climbed aboard his hand and the giant promptly stood tall and began walking along.

Before long, the Giant stopped and set them down. "This is where I last saw her. I swear." He said. Twig began picking up the scent again.

"Don't worry. We might be able to find her on our own." Frida replied. "Thank you so very much."

The giant walked away with a smile on his face, with Frida giving one shortly afterwards. "Oh, man… if only Hilda could see us now." She remarked.

"She was right about creatures not being as bad as they're made out to be." David added.

"Alright, let's stick with Twig and follow the trail. We can't be too far behind." Alfur instructed.

As they followed Twig along, a faint howling was heard...one they could've sworn was closer than the roar they heard earlier.

* * *

There it was again.

Except this time, it sounded less like a roar and more of a howl.

Wood Man wasn't sure if it was a good idea to refrain from bringing it up, but given what Johanna had told him about sidetracking, he figured that it wasn't something to be too concerned about.

"There she is!" A voice rang out.

"Shush, David!" Another voice said. "Uh… oh boy…"

"...I'm assuming you recognize at least one of those voices?" Woodman asked.

"They sound like Hilda's friends." Johanna muttered. "I don't know how, but they must have come to look for me..."

"Well, if they were able to make it this far, she certainly taught them well."

"Mum! You need to stop!" Alfur called out.

"Alfur?! I thought I told you to stay out of this!" Johanna stated.

"I'm sorry, but I just couldn't do that. You have to come home with us, please!"

"You heard exactly what I said. I'm not going to rest until I find her."

David, Frida and Twig approached them. "Look, Mum. I know I can't stop you from tracking down Victoria, but… I can't let you get carried away." Alfur begged.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that whatever it is you're thinking of doing when you find her...and that is unlikely enough as it is...we're not letting you go through with it."

All was silent. Alfur's implication left Johanna shocked, but she soon went into defending her position.

"...So you're saying that I'll just become a murderer like her. Am I wrong?"

Alfur struggled to respond. "I...I didn't mean for it to come out li-"

"Alfur. Answer me. _**Am I wrong?**_"

"...No… you're right…" Alfur answered, his eyes tightly shut.

Johanna had expected to hear this...but it didn't make her disappointment in Alfur's accusation any less prominent.

"So that's how you think it is...we all just act like everything's going to be okay 'as long as we have each other' while the person who did this in the first place just roams free."

"Mum…" Alfur whimpered.

"Well, I'm telling you this right now: some people might buy into that. But not me."

But something seemed off. David didn't seem to be paying attention to what was happening. Frida was the first to take notice to David, but then she was transfixed at whatever he was seeing.

"Uh… guys?" Wood Man added. Soon, everyone turned around, and they were met with a terrifying monster.

It was the Black Hound.

"It's not a rumor after all…" Frida said. "It's real."

"AND ALSO HUNGRY!" A petrified David finished.

The fierce beast growled and snarled at them.

"Oh no, what do we do?!" Alfur cried.

Putting the argument aside for the time being, Johanna was quick to take on command.

"RUN!"

And run, they did. They followed Johanna back through the forest, but the Black Hound was closing in.

"Split up and snake through the trees!" Johanna instructed. "We might lose it!"

In doing so, the Hound lost its' advantage in speed. Due to its lack of agility, of course, being so big, it fell very far behind the rest.

"We got a good lead now." Johanna said. "If we can just get to my car, we'll all be safe!"

* * *

Having a good lead over the Hound, they eventually reached Johanna's car. "Wait, where's David?" Frida wondered.

"Oh, great…stay here!" Johanna groaned. She beeped the car so David would hear it.

"David!" Frida shouted as she loaded their bikes into the trunk. "David, where are you?!"

Eventually, David emerged from the trees, looking not much worse for the wear. But not far behind him, bright yellow lights filtered through the trees. The Hound was gaining up on him.

"Everyone in, NOW!" Johanna instructed. Woodman, Twig and Alfur were already safely inside. David and Frida got in quick without much issue. Johanna started the car, shifted the gear stick to Drive, and floored it. The Hound got hit in the leg as Johanna turned the car around, but continued its' pursuit nonetheless.

Alfur immediately was the first to speak. "Mum, GO FASTER!"

Johanna kept her eyes on the path. "There should be a quick way out of here!" But in the rear-view mirror, she saw the Hound leap. It gathered enough speed to jump ahead of her car and right in front of the exit in the forest.

"AAGH!" Johanna screamed before turning the car to an unfamiliar part of the forest, and on a path that wasn't really suitable for cars. "Oh god, I shouldn't driving on here!"

With the car getting overwhelmed by the unbelievably rugged terrain, the Black Hound didn't have much of an issue catching up.

"It's gaining on us!" David screamed.

As soon as the Black Hound seemed to catch up with the car, it seemed to dive at it, but it suddenly vanished in a magenta colored flash. "What the? Where'd it-" Frida wondered before getting cut off by the sound of crunching metal all around them.

"Wh-what the?!" Johanna cried.

Suddenly, the Hound reappeared on the hood of the car, which was emitting smoke. "_I CAN'T SEE A THING!_" Johanna screamed. "The brakes! THE BRAKES AREN'T WORKING!"

At this point, the car was pinballing around the forest. It slammed into and bounced off tree after tree, culminating in the hood suddenly being set on fire.

"Abandon ship!" Alfur screamed.

Everyone opened the doors and leapt out of the car. They had enough time to see it careening off a cliff and into a small lake.

_***BOOM!***_

And just like that, the car had exploded less than a second after it fell into the water.

Everyone eventually pulled themselves together, nursing some scrapes that came from tumbling out from the car. "Is everyone okay?" Alfur asked.

"I think so." Frida answered.

"My car…" Johanna muttered. As a result of this, David and Frida had lost their bikes as well.

"Hang on a second." Wood Man began. "That thing was on your car when it went into the lake. And now that your car exploded…"

"You don't think…" David asked, unsettled by the implication.

Before they were able to ponder that any further, they heard a sound coming from the lake. The menacing yellow eyes were almost clearly visible from under the waves.

"You gotta be _**[EXPLETIVE REDACTED] **_kidding me." Woodman blunty uttered.

"Come on! We gotta lose it before it gets up that cliff!" Johanna instructs before running off. Everyone followed behind her and snaked through the trees. Shortly after, the Black Hound climbed out of the water and up the cliff, wasting time by shaking itself dry.

"Which way to Trolberg?" Johanna asked the group.

"You're asking us? You're the one who came all the way out here!" Frida responded.

"THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT!"

"Can we please just focus on how we're going to get away from that thing?!" Alfur interjected.

David pointed to what looked like a short cut. "THIS WAY!" The rest of the group followed suit, and were led to a cabin. They hoped that whoever was inside was willing to hear them out...if they even let them in.

* * *

**The House of Want**

**Evening**

The group flooded into the cabin and immediately slammed the door shut, not paying any heed to the fact that it was unlocked. Knowing that there was no way he could get inside, the Black Hound lost interest and walked off.

"We're safe at last..." David sighed in relief.

"Now, without a car to get home with, we've-" Johanna turned to face the very person she was after all this time. Everyone else eventually took notice.

"Oh no." Alfur muttered. Part of Johanna didn't want this to be true. But there she was.

_**Victoria Van Gale.**_

* * *

**To Be Continued in ****Chapter 7: The Undone**

**Story Concept by jdubbam**

**Written by jdubbam, Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd **

**Special Thanks: D.D. Danger, FusionBlueCore**

**Inspired by "Remorse of an Adventurer" by D.D. Danger**


	8. The Undone

**Previously…**

* * *

Alfur's group had finally managed to catch up with Johanna, but the meeting was not exactly the most pleasant of ones.

A run-in with the Black Hound led to the destruction of Johanna's car and the group taking refuge in a cabin...the same one in which Victoria Van Gale had made her indefinite hideaway...

**And now, the continuation...**

***The following chapter contains moderate violence. You have been warned.***

* * *

**\- Chapter 7: The Undone -**

**The House of Want**

**Evening**

Their arrival was not unnoticed. Victoria had recognized David, but her attention was focused on the fact that she wasn't alone for the first time in a few months.

"You." Johanna growled.

"W-where did you all come from? Are you here to turn me in?" Victoria whimpered.

"None of that matters."

"What do you want from me?!"

"Do you remember Hilda? The blue haired girl you _killed in __**cold blood?**_" Johanna snarled. She had begun to walk towards Victoria's position.

"I DIDN'T KILL HER!" Victoria protested. She was starting to feel more and more cornered as Johanna continued walking. "She-"

"_**MY DAUGHTER?"**_

Upon those words Victoria's heart momentarily stopped.

She recalled Hilda mentioning her mother on the day on the incident. Then she looked into Johanna's eyes, and sensed the rage. The sorrow. The sheer, unbridled hatred.

And at that moment, she realized that she wasn't here to turn her in.

If anything...they'd be lucky if they even found a body that was _recognizable_.

"No...no, please, you have to let me expl-"

Johanna didn't give even give her the chance to finish that sentence, as her fist made swift contact with Victoria's mouth. The impact left her with some loosened teeth, coupled with the faint taste of iron.

"LIAR!" Johanna roared. She took the opportunity to grab the stumbling meteorologist by the shoulders, decking her in her right eye.

"Mum, _NO!_" Alfur screamed, him and Twig trying to intervene to the best of their abilities. "If you kill her, we'll run away from you!"

"_**I DON'T CARE!"**_ She retorted. Victoria was reminded of what Hilda said shortly before releasing the Weather Spirit. Once again, she hadn't been given the time to reflect upon that, as Johanna managed to take hold of her and began striking her repeatedly in the face. Droplets of blood were splattered over the floorboards, and a couple of the already loosened teeth fell out.

David was utterly terrified by what he was witnessing. While he found it hard to say that Victoria didn't have it coming, especially with how his suspicions about her were proven right in the worst way imaginable, even he knew that they couldn't just sit and let her be beaten to death. "We need to do something, NOW!"

"If only we had handcuffs..." Frida groaned. But she was surprised when a pair of handcuffs appeared in her right hand. "That's convenient." She then darted for Johanna who had just escaped Twig and Alfur, and carried a steel crowbar in her hand. Frida and the others had no idea how or where she got that.

She took a swing at Victoria, hitting her in the side and causing her to fall to the floor. Victoria's scream, coupled with the sound of crunched bone, was enough to remind everyone even more so of just how bad a shape Johanna's mental state was in. But before she could bring the crowbar upon her once more, she was toppled over by Twig and tackled by everyone else.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GET OFF ME!" Johanna screamed, struggling to overcome them.

"WE'RE NOT LETTING YOU DO THIS!" David responded. He struggled to maintain his grip long enough so that Frida could slip the handcuffs on.

"WHY DO YOU CARE? I DIDN'T EVEN WANT YOU TO COME LOOKING FOR ME!"

"We care because we all know that you're going to regret this! Do you really think this is what Hilda would've wanted?!" Frida attempted to explain. The physical efforts she demonstrated in the wrestling match against Engilbort came somewhat in handy, but they still weren't quite enough.

"YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HER! _**NONE OF YOU DO!**_"

Despite giving it their all, Johanna's fury was simply too much for the group to overcome. She had projected David and Frida off of her first, followed by Alfur, Twig, and Wood Man, though they were otherwise unharmed on landing.

Johanna took the handcuffs off and advanced upon Victoria, looking down at her. The battered meteorologist had already given up on putting up a fight and resigned herself to her fate, though due to her age and injuries, she probably didn't even have much of a chance from the word "go". Johanna readied the crowbar, prepared to do what in her mind should have been done months ago…

...but she didn't.

She had cast a second glance on her handiwork. Apart from the aforementioned lost teeth, a black eye and bloodied nose and mouth were visible. A hand was also seen on the side she had hit her, indicating that it was cracked.

Johanna looked at the crowbar she had carried, and then back at Victoria.

As much as she wanted to do it...they were right. This isn't what Hilda would've wanted.

She slowly but surely eased her grip on the crowbar, causing it to naturally fall out of her hand, and slumped to her knees on the floor. Frida was unsure if this meant Johanna had calmed down significantly or not, but she put the handcuffs back on just in case as David helped Victoria up.

After a period of silence, Wood Man had spoken. "I'm in the mood to let her explain herself."

"Do you think I'll believe anything you say for even a second?" Johanna growled at Victoria.

"I didn't mean for any of this to happen." Victoria began. "In the beginning, I simply wanted to harness a Weather Spirit's power to try and gain control over the weather so that we could decide what it would be… but… Hilda wanted to release the Weather Spirit. She scolded me for my… extreme methods… but the energy used to contain the spirit had released all at once, destroying the facility. I ran for my life as it exploded, and all my life's work was gone."

"She's right. The Great Raven told me all about it next chance he could." David said. "If she lied about it, Raven would've known. She didn't try to kill her."

"No…" Johanna cried.

"I'm not asking you or anyone else to forgive me. I just want you to know that I never had any intention of killing her. I really didn't." Victoria explained. "I'm sorry…"

Wood Man's stubborn personality was breaking again. "I can't handle much more of this…" He muttered as he walked for the door. But it wouldn't open.

"Wh… what's going on?" Frida asked.

"It's stuck." Wood Man explained.

"Let me try." Frida walks over and tries to open the door, but in vain. "It won't budge!"

Wood Man tried jumping out the window. But then he suddenly fell down the chimney and out the fireplace. Unfortunately, it being evening, it was lit. The falling ash did poorly in subduing the fire, enough for the unfortunate humanoid to let out a sharp cry as he was partially set ablaze.

"WOOD MAN!" Johanna screamed.

"Oh cruddlesticks! We need a fire extinguisher!" David cried. Frida promptly grabbed one off the wall and blasted Wood Man with it.

"Thanks…" He groaned and coughed as he came back to his senses.

"Are you okay?" Alfur asked.

"Yeah. Two consecutive near-death experiences are a real breeze." Wood Man sarcastically answered. "What the hell was that? Windows… generally don't work that way..."

"What is up with this place?" David asked, getting nervous.

"From what I've experienced in the past few months, it gives you anything you wish for. Food, furniture, artifacts, books, you name it." Victoria explained as she nursed her wounds. "Is there anything that you want?" Victoria looked to Johanna, already knowing what she wanted. She didn't know if the house's abilities extended _that _far, but knowing what Johanna had came here for, she wouldn't stop her from trying.

"I just want to see my daughter again…" Johanna said.

But shortly after she said those words, the house began shaking a bit. Then something fell onto the floor nearby.

Or rather… someone.

A little girl with long blue hair, a black beret, wearing a red sweater, a blue skirt, and a beige scarf. Everyone simply couldn't believe their eyes.

"Whuh…. where... am I..." The little girl muttered.

"It can't be…" Alfur muttered in utter shock.

"HILDA!" Johanna cried, running to her daughter and then hugged her like she had never hugged her before. "Thank god…"

"Mum? What's happening? How am I alive?!" Hilda asked.

"It doesn't matter." Johanna cried happily. "All that matters is that you've returned to me at last." But then another thought crossed her mind. Victoria was right behind her. "Did she do it?"

"What?" Hilda asked.

"Was she responsible for your death?" Johanna asked, holding onto her daughter's shoulders.

"No." Hilda answered.

"But… the Weather Station exploded. Didn't it?" Johanna asked.

"It did when I hit the button to release the spirit." Hilda explained. "And it was free…"

"You're saying she had nothing to do with your death?" Johanna continued.

"None at all." Hilda finished.

Johanna couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her own daughter told her to her face that there was absolutely no foul play involved in her death. She had a hard time believing it was real. All the work she did to find Victoria Van Gale was almost all for nothing.

Emphasis on almost.

She at least got her daughter back, and that far more than made up for it.

Twig began sniffing at Hilda, and then perked up and began licking her nonstop. It was most definitely the Hilda he remembered.

"Hilda…" Frida mumbled, weariness apparent in her tone. "I'm so sorry about what happened between us… what I said… I didn't mean it, I- … you only tried to help me… and I was so ungrateful about it. I… I can't-"

Her stumbling was put to a halt when Hilda embraced her, who was then quickly joined in by David. That regret was finally lifted from their shoulders.

The happiness and relief of the scene was unfortunately dulled when Hilda took full notice of Victoria's injuries.

"What happened to her?!" She exclaimed.

Everyone was silent once again before Johanna spoke.

"When we had arrived here...I was the first one to see her. I had thought for so long that she was responsible for what had happened that when I learned that she was somewhere out there, I had to find her myself. Alfur, Twig, and your friends tried to stop me, but I...ended up almost killing her…"

It was getting too much for Hilda to take in. Being brought back from the dead was one thing, but to learn that her mother almost murdered someone was a revelation in of itself.

"You have every right to be ashamed of me…" Johanna said.

Hilda had begun to speak after processing it the best she could.

"Mum...I have to be honest...I'm not really sure what to think about anything right now. I've died, came back to life, reconciled with a friend, and just now learned that you tried to take a life…"

Hearing the pause in Hilda's sentence, Johanna prepared for the worst.

"...but I know that no matter what you've done...I don't think you wouldn't have done it had I never snuck out behind your back that day...I'm sorry…"

"Well… then again… if you didn't go, Trolberg would be an enormous mound of snow by now." Johanna stated.

"You're right, but... maybe there could've been a safer way for me to free the Weather Spirit if I had put a little more thought into it…" Hilda wondered.

Their surroundings had then caught Hilda's attention. "Wait. This...looks somewhat like my old cabin." She commented.

"It does...it is nice, isn't it?"

"I suppose so."

"You know, Hilda?" Johanna began. "You were right from the start. We never should have moved."

"But we didn't have any other choice."

"...Yes… but think of it this way. Now that we're both here, maybe we can forget all about this. Forget about the city. It can be just us again from here on out."

"What about them, though?" Hilda points to David and Frida. "We gotta get them home too."

"About that," David began. "We're kinda stuck."

"Neither the front door, nor the window are of any help." Alfur added.

"That, I learned the hard way." Woodman said as he demonstrated his burn marks. Hilda appropriately winced at the sight of them.

"What if we tried going upstairs?" David suggested.

"Good idea. Maybe we can get out through the attic!" Hilda added.

Wood Man was quick to agree. "I guess it's worth a shot."

Everyone but Victoria and Johanna went up the stairs in the hopes that they would find their escape. Johanna, as hesitant as she was, stayed behind until Hilda had told her to come on.

* * *

They went up. And up...and up, eventually finding themselves going in a circle seeing as how David stopped for a moment, and then seeing the others loop back to the lower part of the staircase.

Once that obviously wasn't working, they decided to go back downstairs where they found a door. Hilda opened it, only to nearly fall down right before Johanna pulled her up. An intricate labyrinth of staircases was displayed for all of them to see.

Ever so resilient, Hilda led the group through another door, which then led to a hallway.

Several picture frames of their respective families were displayed. And while none of them paid any real attention to them given what was going on...one of them happened to look like a torn photo of a man around Johanna's age.

At the end of the hallway they had finally found the entrance to the attic. Woodman pulled the cord and brought down the stairs, and they climbed up one at a time...only to end up right back where they started.

"How did you…?" Victoria wondered.

Hilda had answered with what was now pretty obvious. "I don't think this house wants us to leave."

"Alright, then what?" Alfur asked.

A light bulb went off in Frida's head. "If the house doesn't want us to leave...then maybe we can get it to the point where it does."

"What do you mean?" David asked.

"Victoria said that it gives us anything we want...so if we all wished for multiple things at once, maybe it won't be able to keep up and kick us all out!"

"So… I wish for a blank notebook." Alfur says. Promptly, a blank notebook appears next to him.

"You don't even have to say it." Victoria says.

"Request more things! It doesn't matter what, just do it as quickly as you can!" Frida instructed.

More and more objects were appearing all over the place. But before long, some objects briefly phased out of existence. "It's working! The house is having trouble keeping up." Hilda cheered.

But soon, everyone was exhausting their ideas. "Mum, help us out here." Alfur says.

"I've already run out of ideas…" Johanna replied, scratching her head. Her mind was still foggy from her post depression.

"Wood Man, we need your help!" Hilda called.

"Just a moment. I'm trying to picture the perfect end table." Wood Man responded with everyone giving him a look. Eventually, a fancy end table materialized in front of him. "Hmm… the grain could be better."

"Please. Get with the spirit of the exercise." Hilda pleaded.

"Fine, fine." Wood Man groaned. But immediately after that, the room was getting literally flooded with objects, decor, and the like. Everyone eventually climbed out of the mess.

"Hilda, I'm having trouble thinking of more things to want!" David cried.

"Me too!" Alfur added. "Simplicity has always been one of my virtues." Then the cushion he held onto vanished, causing him to drop into the pile, screaming in surprise.

"I got nothing either. I've already wished for every Sparrow Scout badge imaginable." Frida cried.

"COME ON! Don't stop now, we've almost defeated it! Just ask for...I don't know...a diamond monocle!"

"Already did." Wood Man turned to Hilda, presenting the diamond monocle he wore.

As everyone grew desperate, Johanna simply sat there, thinking about how Hilda wanted to be able to see David and Frida, even if it meant leaving this place behind. She felt like she'd be a bad parent if she kept her here and away from her friends if they were to escape alone.

"ENOUGH!" Johanna yellled. "Listen here, you SELFISH HOUSE, it doesn't matter what you give us! My daughter wants to be able to see her friends again back home, and you're standing in our way. All we really want is a _WAY HOME!_"

But soon after she said that, the room began shaking. Magenta colored trails began emanating from the pile. A bright light began to envelop the room, and it became blinding before long. And then…

* * *

**Location Unknown**

**Evening**

Everything went dark around them. They all felt buried under all the stuff they asked for.

"Mmph, mmph!" Victoria murmured under the pile.

The only light they could see was the faint evening light filtering through the frame of a door. Johanna swam painstakingly through the pile, reached for the doorknob, and then turned it.

* * *

**Hilda's House**

**Evening**

Out of nowhere, the door swings wide open and everyone and everything tumbled out of the door. Eventually, everyone pulled themselves out of the pile. They found themselves in the living room in Hilda's house...more specifically, her one in Trolberg.

"It worked!" Hilda said.

"But is this really our house? Or just another trick?" Alfur wondered.

Johanna went to the window, and was greeted by the sight of cars and people generally going about their day.

"We _are_ really home." Johanna said. She turned back to Hilda with a happy smile.

"It looks like everything worked out in the end." Victoria said.

"I guess it did." Johanna said, hugging Hilda. "We're finally together again, safe and sound. Our lives are back to normal."

But through their closed eyes, they noticed a bright magenta light from the pile underneath them. Everything was vanishing right before their eyes and flowing back through the door.

"What's going on? Why is everything we wished for disappearing?" David asked.

"Now that we're out of the house...I think it might be wanting everything we wished for 'back' in a way." Frida explained. "Even..."

She stopped dead in her words as the realization hit her like a brick.

Hilda suddenly staggered. "Urgh…"

"Oh no… Hilda!" Johanna cried, clutching her daughter before she fell over. Hilda's hands were see-through.

"I'm sorry, mum…" Hilda sobbed. "I… I guess I can't stay with you after all."

"No.. please don't say that… Please don't go." Johanna cried.

"You can't let this happen, Hilda!" David said.

"I know…" Hilda said. "But… it's too late… I'm already dead…"

"I CAN'T LOSE YOU AGAIN!" Johanna screamed. "Not after this…"

Hilda takes Johanna's hand. "Look, mum… dreams are wonderful. But we all have to wake up eventually." She said. "Oh, what I'd give for just one more day with you all... I'm eternally grateful that I was able to spend a bit more time with you. At least I have the chance to say goodbye..." This reminded Frida of something.

"Hilda's mum...it's... time to say goodbye." Frida says.

"No...NO, I CAN'T!" Johanna sobbed, hugging her vanishing daughter tighter. David joined the hug, followed by Frida, then Twig, and finally Wood Man.

Then Alfur hopped onto Hilda's ear one last time, and whispered only this. "I'll miss you..."

"I'll miss you all…" Hilda whispered to everyone, the weight finally lifted off of her shoulders.

Her body began to glow, brighter and brighter, until it was blinding. As she breathed her last once more, Hilda disintegrated into millions of particles which faded off into the ether. For what seemed to be once and for all, she was no longer amongst the living. The door that had led to their freedom and closed and vanished as well.

Johanna fell to her knees, and began bawling. This was too much for her. The entire world seemed to disappear around her. She had never felt so empty in her life. So utterly alone...

...so done.

Done with it all...

* * *

**Johanna's House**

**Night**

A few hours had passed. The same way that Trolberg lost its light from the sun, Johanna lost her own.

All the lights in the apartment were off, and the only people awake in the house were Twig, and Alfur. Twig nudged Johanna, who lay on the couch while Alfur sat on the couch's arm, worrying.

She muttered an unfamiliar name as she woke up. "Oh… oh my… Alfur." She said as she sat up. She paused for a moment. "Everybody's gone, aren't they?"

"Yes. They put you here to rest." Alfur explained. "We've all been through a lot."

Johanna stayed silent. Having figured out that Victoria didn't actually kill her daughter, she didn't know what else to do. "But… now what…?" She eventually said. "Where could we go from here? How could I be brought lower?"

* * *

**Late Night**

Alfur and Twig sat down on the couch, completely and utterly crestfallen. They had nothing left to do. Johanna had gone to bed an hour ago, but neither the elf nor the deerfox could bring themselves to sleep.

Despite his crushing gloom, gears were slowly turning in Alfur's head. The unfamiliar name Johanna had uttered in her sleep… Alfur could have sworn he had heard it somewhere before. "Stay here, Twig. I have to check something," Alfur said before navigating to his desk to write a letter.

Halfway through, however, a terrible chill running down Alfur's spine took hold of him. He had a sneaking suspicion that he and Twig weren't alone. The chill worsened as he peered into the dark. "Who's there?!" Alfur gasped. Twig suddenly began growling.

Alfur hopped over to the lightswitch and flicked it on. But after a mere second, the lights flickered off. Twig suddenly stopped growling and looked nervous. It was dead silent. Not even the sounds of traffic outside were audible.

He could HEAR his tiny little heart racing very clearly. He knew that he had to get somewhere safe, but where? They obviously couldn't leave Johanna at the mercy of whatever it was they were dealing with!

Wasting no time, he darted straight for Johanna's room. But seeming to react to his action, the room was suddenly illuminated by a sinister green light. Alfur screamed for a moment before he and Twig were engulfed by the green mist.

Alfur tried to pull himself together, but he found himself seemingly constricted by the mist. He could hardly breathe.

"Y̴o̷u̸ ̸i̷n̷t̷e̴r̵v̴e̶n̴e̶,̸ ̷y̷o̴u̴ ̸d̴i̶e̸.̸." A voice said.

"Wh-what?" Alfur cried. "You can… see me?!"

Then he and Twig were suddenly tossed over to a wall. They fell to the ground, traumatized, and eventually fainted.

"S̵̡̡͖͉̬̓w̷͔̦͉͌̊́̌͠ẻ̷͓͇͌͊͝ȩ̶͎͑̄̓̌̀t̶̺̏̕ ̷̘͚͍͔̏̀̃̍͝ď̸̩̜̠̪̝r̵̟̱͝ẻ̷̢͉̭̖͙͌̄̽̉ä̷͔̋̆m̵̧̼͎̜͂ş̶̢̤͆̆̐̚̕͜.̸̤̑́͗̈" The voice said.

* * *

**To Be Continued in ****Chapter 8: The Return**

**Story Concept by jdubbam**

**Written by jdubbam, Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd **

**Special Thanks: D.D. Danger, FusionBlueCore**

**Inspired by "Remorse of an Adventurer" by D.D. Danger**


	9. The Return

**Previously…**

* * *

Alfur's group had successfully found Johanna...and after a narrow escape from the Black Hound, Victoria Van Gale, who Johanna nearly murdered. Once things had calmed down and the truth of Hilda's death was explained, they realized that not only the cabin they took refuge in was one that could grant anything they wished for on a whim, but it also sentient, and _not_ too willing to let them leave at that.

Johanna unexpectedly made the best of the situation when she wished Hilda back to life… but this was tragically rendered null and void as after their escape, everything they had wished for during their stay had vanished, Hilda included. That night, a presence with malevolent intentions attacked Alfur and Twig...

**And now, the continuation…**

***This chapter contains reference to injury and assorted unpleasant imagery. You have been warned.***

* * *

**\- Chapter 8: The Return -**

**Trolberg Park**

**Daytime**

David and Frida met up with each other at the wide open grassfield in Trolberg park, sitting on a bench in wistful silence. It was an unseasonably warm day.

"You know, David?" Frida began.

"Yeah?"

"It was worth it going out there." Frida explained. "We had a chance to spend one last evening with Hilda. And… I took the chance to apologize to her. I'm so grateful that we were given that chance."

"Yeah." David agreed, but then he realized something. "You know… if we've helped her ease her regrets, then… does that mean she might become a ghost after all?"

"Maybe..." Frida replied, hopeful. "And the fact that she was brought back to life must mean that it _is_ possible that she can overcome her death. Who knows, maybe she has a better chance than ever."

"Yeah, but…" David began, turning the tone back to grim. "There's also the fact that she probably still blames herself for the fact that her mum almost killed Victoria. And seeing how her mum reacted to all this… we shouldn't get our hopes too high… Her mum must have been the closest to her, and if she can't move on, then…"

"Maybe not…" Frida responded, dejected. "She, too, had the chance to say goodbye, and she blew it."

"We should visit her grave again tonight." David suggested, with Frida nodding in response.

But then a newspaper in a trash can caught David's eye. Pictures on it depicted the Black Hound and Victoria, the latter of whom had since turned herself in, intent on keeping it that had explained her injuries as ones she sustained while in the wilderness.

David walked over to grab it, but it turned out that it was only a subheader. The headline itself read the following:

* * *

_Trolberg Daily - Morning Issue_

_December 17th, [DATA EXPUNGED]_

_**OUR OWN MASSIVE NIGHTMARE?**_

**Widespread accounts of terrible nightmares reported by hundreds of citizens**

…

"_We've been getting hundreds of phone calls in the early hours of this morning. They've been saying they've been suffering from a severe nightmare that seemed to be based on their most emotionally scarring moments in life." -TSP_

…

"_Some calls seem to swear that injuries they've suffered in the nightmare, including but not limited to burn marks and cuts, seemed to carry over."..._

* * *

"Oh, cruddlesticks…" David cursed.

"It's Kelly. It's gotta be." Frida added. "She and her friends are all trying to lure me out."

"But why?" David inquired.

"The day I had gotten your call, I heard my parents screaming. When I got to their bedroom… I saw Kelly. Maybe this is her way of telling me that it's time we settle this once and for all." Frida explained.

"Wait. If that was Kelly, than that would mean…"

"She's a Marra. But… look here." Frida pointed at the next line of text on the newspaper. "'Injuries suffered in the nightmare carrying over'?" The plausibility of that was much in question.

"That can't be. It wasn't anywhere in the book that Hilda showed us." David commented.

"I know this much...if Kelly wants a fight, she can be damn well sure we're gonna give her one."

"Language, please..." David scolded, with Frida narrowing her eyes in response.

* * *

**Kelly's House**

**Daytime**

That morning, Kelly's mother had called Father Darby. Her daughter had gone missing some days ago. But almost as concerning was the ominous feeling in her room that motivated her to call someone who was well versed in the spiritual arts.

"Good day to you, ma'am." The priest greeted as he walked in.

"Thank god you came." Kelly's mother said.

"Glad I could be of service. Now then, concerning your daughter, Kelly. You've told me that she's been missing for the past few days?"

"Indeed. But… there's this strange presence inside the room that worries me."

"I see. Could I take a further look at this?" Darby requested.

"Of course."

Darby went upstairs to Kelly's room, hoping to get to the bottom of this. "I feel it too. This entire room emanates a dark aura." Darby commented.

"What do you mean? And whatever it is...do you think it has something to do with what happened to my daughter?"

"You said her name was Kelly, correct?"

"Yes."

"Do you know what a Marra is?"

"A Marra…? I...I don't believe that I'm familiar with the term."

"A Marra is a spirit that is capable of afflicting people with terrible nightmares. People become Marras when they give up their humanity and absorb enough of what I call 'Nightmare Fuel'." Darby explained to Kelly's mother's horror. "This explains the ominous aura." But something seemed off about it. "However… not all Marras lose their humanity forever." He dug through a pile and pulled out Kelly's stuffed rabbit, her "Fluff-Bun" as she affectionately called it. "This doesn't emit such an aura. I feel that this may be her sole link back to humanity. Without this, she might..."

"She might… what?"

Darby stayed silent for a while. "I pray every night that it'd never come to that. As we speak, Kelly needs all the help she can get. And soon..."

"She told me she made a friend. If I recall correctly, her name was Frida."

"Frida? She was a friend of the late Hilda. You heard of her?" Darby asked.

"Indeed, I have...such a valiant young girl, she was…"

"We must find this Frida. She could be our only hope at saving your daughter." Darby proposed. "Perhaps we're not too late."

* * *

**Johanna's House**

**Afternoon**

Alfur and Twig just sat there exactly as they were since last night, the brunt of the impact and their trauma enough to render them unconscious. But soon, Alfur finally began to stir, eventually pulling himself together, groaning as he got up. He was extremely dizzy, and with every step he took, he nearly fell over. He tried to remember what occurred the previous night to the best of his ability.

"Ugh… what time is it…?" He muttered. The clock read 1:07 PM. Not only was that shocking to see, but he knew Mum would've gotten him up by now if he had oversle-

_**MUM!**_

A mental variation of the events that occurred the night before suddenly came to him in a flash. He remembered someone or something telling him not to intervene with whatever it was they had in mind, otherwise he and Twig would both be killed. There was one thing, however, he was concerned with most of all: if those plans involved Johanna in any capacity.

"Twig… Twig, get up! Please!"

The deerfox took a bit longer to come to, but he had awoken soon afterwards.

"Oh, thank heavens! We have to see if Mum is alright!"

They open the door to Johanna's room. She was still in bed. "M-mum?" Alfur stammered. But it didn't take long for them to realize that something was very wrong. In fact, Twig sniffed something, causing him to shriek. "Wh-what is it?"

They climbed up to her bed, and her face looked pale. There seemed to be a dark spot on the blanket. Alfur nervously, but dutifully, moves the covers out of the way, only to discover…

_**...BLOOD ON THE SHEETS!**_

Not to mention that the wound it came from looked very similar to the one that Hilda got when she was stabbed by the broken pipe.

"_OH, GOD!_" Alfur immediately screamed at the sight, teary-eyed as he had ever been. "Mum! Mum, please! Say something! ANYTHING!"

Johanna suddenly gasped weakly. "Ah… Alfur…?"

"Mum! What happened?!"

Johanna took notice of her severe wound. "Wh… wh-wha…? H… h-how did this even happen?" She breathed weakly, bunding up in her sheets, trying to staunch the bleeding. The sheets did a better job slowing the blood flow than Hilda's hand ever did, but the wound wasn't entirely life threatening however.

Alfur ran as fast as he could to the phone, intent on dialing for emergency services.

"Don't worry, I'm going to get help! Twig, you stay here and watch over her!" Alfur instructed.

Johanna looked at her bloodied hands. Flashes of the memory of Hilda's initial passing rushed in and out of her head. When she had ran over to her daughter's side that day, she had inadvertently placed one of her hands around the bloodstained portion of her jacket, which had led to some of the red substance covering her palm.

And then...she heard it.

"Gone."

It was merely faint at first. A whisper in a sea of delirium.

But then she heard it again.

"_Gone._"

...and again.

"_**Gone."**_

She didn't understand any of it. Why this infernal voice was tormenting her so? Where was it even coming from?!

"_**GONE!"**_

"_**GONE!"**_

"_**GONE!"**_

Now, it was being shouted at the pace of a drumbeat. It was mocking her. Demeaning her. Doing whatever it could to tear down whatever sense of reality she had left.

As Alfur frantically described the situation to the Medical Department, he heard the sound of maddened snickering. "PLEASE HURRY!" Alfur begged to the gentleman on the other end of the line.

* * *

**Trolberg Streets**

**Afternoon**

"Are you really sure it's a good idea to visit her so soon?" David asked Frida.

"David, trust me when I say it's alright. It'll only be a quick check up to she how she's holding up. If Alfur says that it isn't a good time, then we'll go."

But something was wrong. The minute they heard sirens picking up, the two looked at each other, and darted down the sidewalk.

* * *

Their worst fears were confirmed as soon as they had arrived. An ambulance was seen in front of Johanna's house, with several people gathered around it.

"Oh no… not her too." Frida cried.

Hoping to get some idea as to what was happening, the kids went up to one of the workers who arrived on the scene.

"What's going on?!" David asked.

"More than likely another one of those nightmares. She's been stabbed bad." The worker explained. "But there seemed to be no sign of forced entry, and there was nothing on the scene that could've indicated that anyone could've done it. Wasn't self-inflicted, either."

Frida was even more concerned now. "Is… she going to be alright...?"

"Well, thankfully it isn't fatal. We've had far more difficult cases than this, so I reckon it'll heal in due time. Her state of mind, however… I'm afraid that's a different story entirely." The worker despondently continued.

Coincidentally, David and Frida then noticed something. Two other workers were seen rolling out Johanna, who was strapped down on a stretcher.

Not only had her snickering had advanced into full-brown broken hysterical laughter, it had been going on for so long that her bloodshot eyes were flowing with tears to add to her pale face. And to top it all off, in between her bouts of laughter, she was now repeating the word that had so ruthlessly tormented her.

"_**GONE! GONE! GONE! GONE!"**_

If Johanna didn't go off the deep end before...she certainly had now. While she likely only did it out of convenience, Kelly had succeeded in finally finishing what was started that fateful day.

As the ambulance left the scene, the kids just stood there. They were at a loss for words in every conceivable way. On what to say. On how they were going to defeat Kelly. If they even _HAD _a chance of defeating her.

If only Hilda was still here.

If only she were still alive...

* * *

**Johanna's House**

David and Frida soon began to look for Twig.

"Twig? Alfur?" David called. "Are you in here?" He had then heard a conversation going on.

"So...you're telling us that you and everyone else like you are visible to us as long as we sign a piece of paper? I ain't seein' it." A worker asked.

"Look, that's not important right now. Have you been able to find anything?" Alfur responded.

"Any old detective would probably put the suspicion on you or this here deerfox, seeing as how you're invisible and he's not exactly considered a legal pet, not that he IS illegal, of course. But I've read the morning paper." The worker informed him.

"What is your name, by the way?" Alfur asked.

"My name is Shotar-" The worker was cut off by David and Frida running in. "Oh."

"Alfur! Oh, are we glad to see you!" Frida said.

"I could say the same…" Alfur responded.

"Listen, I know who's responsible for this." Frida began. "But...if you don't mind, we're going to have to talk to you about it in private."

Alfur nodded, and then made an inquiry. "Right. Could you excuse us, for a second?"

"Does this concern the case?" The worker asked.

"Yes it does." Frida responded. "What we tell you may be hard to believe, but just bear with us." She asked as they went to discuss the culprit at hand.

"Any shred of evidence we can gather counts." The worker said.

* * *

Frida and David explained the sitrep to Alfur and the worker. The worker was a bit more lenient on the plausibility of it, but his stance on it was far from a disbelieving one, especially with how it correlated with the recent nightmares and the people claiming about it persisting in real life. As he left, he promised to inform them if any further developments came about.

"Well, there really isn't much else we can do here." David concludes.

"Maybe not...but we still need to figure out what we're going to do about Kelly. If she keeps this up, the whole city will be too terrified to even entertain the idea of going to sleep!" Frida added.

"Before long, I'm not sure if even staying awake will matter…" Alfur groaned. "Twig and I witnessed her using her power while we were awake. And I'm not even sure if that's all she's capable of…"

"You saw her? Did she say anything in particular?" Frida inquired.

"We didn't see her physically, but we did hear her. All she told us was that she would kill us if we intervened. After that, we were out cold for the rest of the night."

"Maybe you guys can stay at my place until we come up with a plan. My parents are pretty understanding." David suggested.

"Good idea. If we go to Frida's place, Kelly might find us." Alfur agreed.

"But then again… Kelly might have found David in his own house." Frida warned. "It's like all three of these houses are open to Marra attacks...every place in the city is."

"Well, if Kelly is onto you anyway, my house might not be the first place she'll look. Let's go." David suggested. They all left the house with Alfur locking it behind them.

* * *

**Trolberg Streets**

**Afternoon**

Darby was on his way to Frida's house when his cell phone began ringing. It was Kelly's mother. "Father Darby. How may I be of service?" He greeted.

"It's me, [DATA EXPUNGED]. I just got a callback from Frida's parents. They told me that Frida is at her friend, David's house." She said.

"Excellent. I'll be there at once, thank you." Darby changed his course over to David's house.

* * *

**David's House**

**Evening**

It was about 3 in the afternoon, yet, the sun had set. Alfur and Twig were in the process of making themselves at home, while reflecting over Johanna's hospitalization.

"Oh, Twig... I don't know what we're going to do." Alfur mulled.

"I'm drawing up blanks too…" David complained. "I mean… how do we expect to fight a Marra that's literally onto us?"

"Well, a leather belt can ward off M-" Frida got interrupted.

"Don't you remember what I said before?" David interrupted. "I'm deathly afraid of belts."

"David," Alfur reprimanded. "Priorities. Please."

"Right. Sorry…"

"As I was saying," Frida continued, "A leather belt can ward off the Marra. So, if we all wear some, we might be safe."

"If only there was a belt small enough for me." Alfur murmured.

Just then, they heard the doorbell. David's father went to answer it, and at the front of the household was Father Darby.

"Erm...good evening. What brings you here?"

Darby promptly explained his presence. "I received a call that your son's friend was here. There's something that we must discuss at once."

* * *

**Medical Department of Trolberg**

**Evening**

"You're quite lucky to come here. We were just beginning to wrap up visiting hours for the day...it hasn't been particularly easy to keep up with everyone as of late, but someone has to be looking out for the citizens, especially with all the concern surrounding the nightmares. Now, who was it you were requesting to visit again?"

"...Johanna [DATA EXPUNGED]." A woman with partially dyed purple hair answered.

* * *

**To Be Continued in ****Chapter 9: The Initiative**

**Story Concept by jdubbam**

**Written by jdubbam, Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd **

**Special Thanks: D.D. Danger, FusionBlueCore**

**Inspired by "Remorse of an Adventurer" by D.D. Danger**


	10. The Initiative

**Previously…**

* * *

David and Frida had discovered some unsettling developments regarding nightmares where injuries sustained in them seemed to carry over into real life. Frida suspects that Kelly might be behind it all.

Meanwhile, back at Johanna's House, Alfur wakes up to discover that Johanna had been seriously injured. At the very end of her tether, Johanna promptly fell into madness after waking up and discovering her injuries. David and Frida arrived on the scene to see her being taken away to the Trolberg Medical Department, and had been left with nowhere to begin.

Around this time, Father Darby had been called on by Kelly's mother to investigate her daughter's recent disappearance. After some discoveries were made, Darby decided to take his investigations to her old "friend" Frida. Their paths have prepared to cross, and as the Marra work to ready their ambiguous endgame, our heroes may need to come together like never before.

**And now, the continuation…**

* * *

**\- Chapter 9: ****The Initiative -**

**Trolberg**

**About 14 Years in the Past - Noon**

"_It's going to be fine, Johanna...just go to her, explain everything, and it should be fine._"

Johanna had that statement repeating on end mentally as she walked down the road toward her friend's house. She had recently been married, and her husband and she were making arrangements to move out to his grandfather's house out in the Wilderness. Of course, it hadn't been easy to agree to. Up until now, she had spent her entire life in this city. So many memories, so many accomplishments...to think after all this time it was coming to an end was a lot for her to bear...especially since it meant saying goodbye to a certain someone she knew since childhood.

She couldn't turn down the offer either because the chances of finding a husband like him were vanishingly small. Regardless, he encouraged her to go and talk with her before the arrangements were done.

Eventually, Johanna had arrived at her destination. She went up to the door and rung the doorbell, anxiety wracking her nerve every step of the way. And then…

"Oh… hi." A woman with partially dyed purple hair said.

"... hey Maven."

Not even a few seconds in, and the conversation was off to a remarkably awkward start.

"So how have the arrangements been going?"

"They've been steady. We should be done with them by the end of next week, but...I just wanted to say goodbye before we go."

"I was actually thinking of doing the same literally minutes ago." Maven said, letting out a sad chuckle. "Things really aren't going to be the way they were before, that's for sure."

"I'm so sorry I couldn't have done this differently…" Johanna sighed. "But he was born of the wilderness. Much of his family was. It'd be too hard to-"

"Look. Do what you must to make your family happy. They're much more important."

"Maven...we've known each other since we were kids. Of course they're important, but...so are you."

"Our parting mustn't need to be forever." Maven consoled. "We can keep in contact by writing letters to each other."

"...I guess we could. But are you sure you'll be alright once we're gone?"

"Know this, Joey…" Maven began, putting her hand on Johanna's shoulder. "No matter how far apart we are, neither of us are going to forget each other. And as long as we keep that in mind, we're both going to be alright."

Johanna could hardly say a thing. She could only smile as tears from both of them began flowing, and they promptly shared a parting embrace.

* * *

**David's House**

**The Present - Evening**

"I suspect that Kelly is the one behind all these nightmares that have been happening recently." Frida explained.

"Can you recall the last time you saw her? Her mother had told me that she had gone missing recently." Darby inquired.

"Well, the last time I actually _saw_ her was in my parents' bedroom. But she vanished not too long after." Frida continued. "None of us have seen her since."

"Right...then that doesn't give us much time."

"What do you mean by that?" David asked.

"What I mean is that there's a chance for us to set this right." He then pulled out Fluff-Bun. Everyone else just looked at the stuffed rabbit in confusion.

Alfur had then said what was on all their minds. "...and why, pray tell, would we need that?"

The elf wasn't visible to Darby, but the latter, having extensive knowledge of the supernatural, was not put off by this.

"The process of becoming a Marra is a rather straightforward one. In order for it to work, one must be willing to throw their own humanity away, and absorb a certain amount of "Nightmare Fuel", their main power source - but in certain cases, this may not suffice, as some have ties to their humanity that keep them from losing themselves completely, such as personal belongings they hold dear. A mere toy such as this might not appear to be much, but to Kelly, it is. If we can find a way to break through to her using it, we may be able to bring her humanity back to the surface."

"But how are we supposed to do that when she could be literally anywhere in the city?"

"I've had encounters with the Marra countless times before. The ones I've been able to outsmart or overcome would later visit me to be purged completely of the Nightmare Fuel inside them. Some, unfortunately, have managed to slip by me, but I reckon that one of them should know where Kelly is."

"Well, what are we sitting around for?" Alfur began. "Let's -"

"It's not going to work." Frida interrupted. "She's beyond saving."

"What makes you say that, young one?" Darby inquired.

"Earlier today, she did something to Hilda's mum. We don't know what, but when we had arrived at her house, she was bleeding and...laughing." She couldn't get that image out of her head no matter how hard she tried. "She's being treated in the hospital now, but one of the workers had told us that they don't know if she'll ever get better mentally."

"... Unbelievable…" Darby muttered to himself. "But… be that as it may, despite everything, anyone can be saved. Hilda's mother, and Kelly."

"No. Not Kelly." Frida protested. "There isn't anything or anyone she's interested in or cares about other than that rabbit and herself."

"The rabbit may be all we need." Darby suggested.

"We might as well take his word for it." Alfur stated. "What good are you doing just complaining that she can't be saved? We at least gotta try."

Frida looked downward for a moment, and thought back to the time she spent with Kelly up until she had told her off, until she had came to a decision.

"Okay...we'll...give it a shot."

"Alright then, how do we start?" Alfur asked. "Hilda was good at planning, but... we don't have her now."

"Chances are, a Marra will be headed to this house. Doesn't matter who it is. It just needs to be one that we can use to track down Kelly." Darby began. "You, David, will probably be its' target. You, Frida, will hide under the desk so the marra won't see you. And then once the Marra is in position… we'll capture it using these here leather belts."

"Also, about that thing where injuries carry over to real life, I think David should put one on to so he doesn't get hurt." Alfur suggested.

"Well... I guess there _are_ worse things to be afraid of than belts." David thought as he put one on.

* * *

**Midnight**

Just as before, the stage had been set. Frida was hiding under a desk. David was in bed, wearing a leather belt pretending to be fast asleep, and lastly, Darby hid with Twig in the closet. If everything went according to plan, they'd come out one step closer to saving Kelly.

Before long, the very same twintailed Marra that had terrorized David and Hilda arrived outside the house.

Alfur saw the wisps of green flying through the lock and go toward the center of the room. As before, he ran to Frida to remind her that the Marra had entered the room. Frida had expected the Marra to focus on David. But she almost shrieked when the bright green eyes turned to her and bathed her in a blinding, ominous green light.

"Don't be so shocked." Twintail said in her usual intimidatingly aloof tone, and suddenly grabbing Frida, lifting her out of the sleeping bag. "We've heard _all _about you. You're a huge fool to think you're gonna catch me without that friend of yours. At least then, you were a hindrance at best...now you're nothing."

"THEN HERE'S A _LOAD_ OF NOTHING!" Father Darby yelled, bursting out of the closet and flinging his leather belt at Twintail like a whip and snaring Twintail with unexpected strength and agility for his old age.

"THE HELL?!" Twintail said, caught completely off-guard. The leather belt coiled around the Marra and locked tightly, as if it were sentient. She was trapped, and she stared in shock at the only one the Marra had ever feared. Father Darby.

"Let's not waste words." Darby blunty said. "Where is Kelly?"

"I'll do you one better," Twintail retorted. "Who is Kelly?"

"And I'll do YOU one better," David replied. "WHY is Kelly?"

"Don't you dare give me that." Darby growled at Twintail. "She does not belong with you, and as long as I live, I won't rest until she's out of your grasp."

"What does it even matter anyways? By the time you find her...it'll be too late."

"I wouldn't be so certain of that. I've worked with some of you before, and I know that it's possible for -"

"Yeah, about that...before you go off on your sappy 'EVERYONE'S GOOD AT HEART' fairy tale crap again, that wasn't what I was referring to." Twintail interrupted.

This confused Darby greatly. "...what are you talking about? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HER?!" He demanded.

"Oh, we haven't done anything. We've just been preparing."

"Preparing for what?" David angrily asked.

"Glad you asked." Twintail snarked. "Reverend Man Diapers here probably already told you, but in case he didn't, we Marras thrive off the fear we concoct in our subjects. However, after the whole thing with you and your friend...we decided that maybe the old methods just weren't cutting it anymore."

"So you resort to harming people?" Frida cried.

"Well, yeah. But that's not even going into what it's all building up to."

"What are you trying to tell us?" Darby demanded.

"Let me ask you this - can you imagine what it'd be like we were able to thrive off the entire population of a city? The screams to be cherished, the stories to be shared, the laughs to be had…oh man, to say that we'll be set for years is an _UNDERSTANDMENT!_"

Darby was taken aback by what he was hearing. "You plan on imprisoning thousands in eternal torture so you can continue causing the rest nightmares?"

"Close. We're not just going to claim thousands. Somewhere beyond lies a dimension that is nothing but unadulterated terror. A nightmare world, if you will. Once Kelly's done gathering enough of our 'mojo'...let's just say your little city will never know what hit it."

"Whatever you Marras have planned, I'll see to that it never happens!" Darby snarled.

"We _all _will!" Frida added.

"Trust me. You can't stop us no matter how much you try." Twintail retorted before she wrestled the belt off her. She then vanished.

* * *

**Medical Department of Trolberg**

**Late Night**

Johanna's room was deep in the building, safely away from any windows that could let a Marra in. In fact, most window rooms were vacated for the night. But beyond that, she wasn't around. Maven had been informed that there was a policy recently enacted so that anyone who visited a friend or family member could be allowed to stay for the night. Obviously, she didn't pass up that opportunity.

"Well...looks like I'm gonna be here a little longer than expected." Maven said to the sedated Johanna. The usually collected librarian's voice was a little hoarser than usual, and her eyes were reddened. She had always figured that one of these days that they would meet up again.

But never had she thought, or hoped, that it would happen in _any_ way like this.

As everything fell quiet, all seemed still. But, at the corner of Maven's eye, she thought she saw something. She'd know a Marra when she saw one. But… this wasn't a Marra at all. But when she took a look, it was gone.

Everything was quiet, save for the heart monitor beeping, for a few minutes more… until…

"... Mum…"

Was she hearing things? Particularly in another room?

"Mum…" There it was again. Johanna stirred; her mouth opening ever so slightly.

"Hhh…." Johanna breathed, still under sedation.

* * *

**To Be Continued in ****Chapter 10: The Darkest Hour**

**Story Concept by jdubbam**

**Written by jdubbam, Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd **

**Special Thanks: D.D. Danger, FusionBlueCore**

**Inspired by "Remorse of an Adventurer" by D.D. Danger**


	11. The Darkest Hour

**Previously…**

* * *

David, Frida and co. explained what they knew about the Marra situation. Darby had suggested a possible way to save her, and after some convincing to Frida that Kelly could be saved, she was brought on board to that mission.

That night, Twintail came back to try to torment David. But caught in the middle of her nasty gloating toward Frida, mocking Hilda's death, she was easily overpowered by Father Darby and David. Unfortunately, not only did she end up escaping, but she also revealed that the Marra were in the process of carrying out a nefarious scheme that could spell utter disaster for Trolberg…

**And now, the continuation…**

* * *

**\- Chapter 10: The Darkest Hour -**

**David's House**

**Late Night**

"I just don't believe this." David began. "I mean, I'd somewhat understand if Kelly wanted to give me nightmares because Frida drove her away, but… the very same Marra that left me alone because I was no longer any fun returning to give me more nightmares because Hilda's gone?"

"They must see it as a means to fuel that vortex." Darby explained. "Considering that her death must have hurt all of you deeply, to them, it must be a gold mine of nightmare fuel."

"We've got to slow them down either way." Frida urged.

"But there's no telling how close they are to gathering enough fuel to complete the vortex." Alfur reminded. "For all we know, they could be just getting started or halfway there!"

"Look, children." Darby pointed out the window. "There's an unusual amount of lights on in the city for this hour. They must be scared to go to sleep."

"It would appear that they've taken the 'injuries carrying over to real life' thing to heart." Alfur responded.

"That could be an obstacle, but not for long. Everyone has to get some rest eventually." Frida added. "We have to make the most of this while we have the chance."

"We'll need to figure out where they plan to generate the vortex first and foremost." Darby began.

"Without getting spotted, of course." David added. "But what _would_ the first place that they'd try and generate it?"

"When we first dealt with your Marra, Hilda and I ran across a group of them gathered around a campfire in the Huldrawood." Frida began. "If I'm right, then that might be what they consider to be their 'hangout spot'. If they're close to opening the vortex, then we'll just have to arrange an ambush on them."

"That sounds like a terrible idea, but…" Alfur thought. "What else can we do?"

"It's the only chance we've got." Darby added.

* * *

**Trolberg Streets**

**The Wee Hours of the Morning**

In spite of her defiance of David, Frida, and co., Twintail surprisingly wasn't in the best of moods. She felt as if she wasted her time more than anything, and now that more people were beginning to stay up, the completion of the vortex would most definitely fall behind schedule if they didn't come up with a fast solution.

"Dammit… we might have gotten too greedy…" Twintail cursed to herself. "That boy and his friends would've been prime targets, but now they all know we're onto them. They'll never even think about sleeping! I didn't think we'd have to reveal ourselves to the public… but..."

She then warped away.

* * *

**Marra Camp - Near Camp Sparrow**

"So. The sitrep's that you've used the rage you've gathered from Frida betraying us to evolve?" A Marra asked.

"Yes." Kelly says.

"What are we supposed to do about all the people who are staying awake?" Another Marra inquired.

"Easy. We threaten their lives if they don't fall asleep, and if they still refuse, then we just threaten their friends and family." Kelly said.

"Isn't that a little...uh...excessive?" Another Marra remarked.

"Thinking about it will only slow us down." Kelly retorted. Twintail smiled evilly at this.

"Well, at the very least, doesn't your evolved form consume more energy?" The other Marra informed.

"It'll be worth it. Soon, we'll be gaining more fear energy than we're expending. It's a gamble I'm willing to risk." Kelly reassured them shortly before they heard rustling.

"What was that?" One of the Marras asked fearfully.

"What did I just say about thinking? And besides, it's probably just squirrels or something."

"You call THAT a squirrel?" Twintail pointed. Glowing yellow eyes filtered through the bushes, which soon emerged, revealing none other than the Black Hound; snarling and growling, it encroached upon them.

"Break the meeting?" Kelly asked Twintail.

"Break the meeting." Twintail answered as they all poofed away.

* * *

**Medical Department of Trolberg**

Maven's night was almost up, but even with the new policy, she was still nowhere near ready to leave Johanna's side. But then…

"...l...da….?" Johanna breathed.

"...Joey…" Maven whispered. Was she finally on the verge of completely coming to?

As the minutes went by, Johanna eventually finally woke up. In her daze, it took her a bit to recognize the Librarian's face.

"M… Maven?"

"_**JOEY!**_" She tightly hugged her old friend, but accidentally bumped into her bandaged wound.

"ACK!" Johanna shrieked. "Please…. Be careful."

"Sorry...that was no way for me to greet you…" The librarian chuckled, blushing.

"It's alright, really." Johanna said before looking around. By the time she was brought in and sedated, she had completely fallen into a state of delirium. But now that she had awoken, she had little to no recollection of what had transpired the day before. "...Where am I?" she asked.

"You're at the Medical Department of Trolberg." Maven began. "There's been a whole lot of nightmares going on recently, but not any ordinary ones. Word has it that injuries suffered in that, no matter how minor, are carrying over into real life."

Johanna then took a glance at her bandaged wound. "...Does this mean…"

"I'm afraid so." Maven responded.

While that explained how she ended up there, that still didn't answer Johanna's other question. "How did you know to find me here?"

"You know me, Joey. Nothing ever stays out of my loop for long."

Johanna stayed silent for a while. For as long as it had been since she had last seen Maven, her physical appearance had not changed all that much in the last 12 years, barring the cape she was now donning.

"I really should get my life together…" Johanna said. "Nothing will bring her back…"

"Who?"

"My late daughter…"

"Hilda was your daughter?" Maven gasped. "Oh dear… I should've known…"

"You… knew her?"

"Indeed. I helped her out in the Library." Maven answered. "Though all that time, I had no idea you were back here."

Johanna was shocked to hear this. When they had moved into the city, she had assumed that Maven was likely long-gone as well. They did make an effort to stay in contact by writing, but over time, the directions their lives had taken slowly ate up more and more of their time, causing them to drift away.

"... Mum…" The voice called again.

"H… Hilda?" Johanna was hoping that she wasn't hearing things and going delirious again.

"I hear it too." Maven commented. "Her soul. It's… restless."

"Restless? No...she died, twice! I was right there for both times as she did! It can't be..."

"She must have a lingering regret." Maven began. "Do you have any idea what that might be?"

"N… no… I don't ..." Johanna trailed off as Frida's voice began to play back in her head.

"Hilda's mum...it's... time to say goodbye." Frida's words echoed. Johanna remembered that she could never bring herself to do that. But hearing her daughter's voice one last time, maybe there was a chance that she wasn't truly gone forever.

If she didn't let go, she would only suffer more of these terrible nightmares. Those that stick with you, even when you wake up. Not only could it make her sick, but it would also likely result in her sharing Hilda's fate. On top of that, it would be likely that Hilda's soul would never find the peace it so desperately needed. For her daughter's sake and her own, she had to finally let go.

"I'm so sorry, Hilda…" Johanna cried. "I've failed you as a parent… I'm sorry I've caused you so much grief. I just want to make it right… I always wanted to… I know that… I know that you want me to move on…" She was on the verge of sobbing again. "I-If I don't… you'll… you'll never rest easy… I'll miss you… my child…"

Everything was silent for what felt like an eternity. The voice never responded.

"I… should have… while I had the chance…" Johanna sobbed, throwing herself into Maven's arms. The librarian never let go, comforting her the best she could.

* * *

**David's House**

Although it started to rain, David was peering intensely toward the general direction to the Huldrawood and could faintly see the green streams shooting away from it and starting to surge into the city.

"They're coming." David informed them. "I can see their streams...they must be attacking."

"They won't be for much longer, because this ends tonight." Frida responded. By now, they had formulated a solid enough plan for an ambush. It wasn't the best one, but anything was better than nothing. They had also spoken with Kelly's mother, who had agreed to help.

"Okay, here's the plan: We all head out to the Marra's spot in the Huldrawood. Just as they arrive to summon the vortex, we'll come out and take them off guard."

"But there's probably going to be dozens of them, and only six of us." David inquired.

"It doesn't matter how much they outweigh us in numbers. As long as they know that I'm with you, most of them will at least be cautious." Darby responded.

A sudden loud howling sound in the far-off distance caught them all off-guard.

"Well, that's another thing we still have to worry about…" Frida muttered.

"My guess, having already seen it for ourselves, is that thing is actually a barghest." Alfur began.

"Barghest?" David inquired.

"A kind of wild, giant dog!" Alfur explained. "Though, what it's doing in Trolberg is anyone's guess. They usually live deep in the mountains."

"But if we encountered it outside the walls, what is it doing here anyway?" David began.

"It must have made its' way back in somehow." Alfur added.

"Well we're not asking 'how'. We're asking 'why'." Frida corrected.

"Oh...that, I'm not quite sure of." Alfur responded. "But regardless, we'll have to steer clear of it for the time being until after we deal with the Marra."

* * *

**The Huldrawood**

**An Hour Before Sunrise**

Accompanied by Kelly's mother, David, Frida & co. had arrived around the Marra's hangout spot without much hassle. But even at the entrance, they could see the Marra flame filtering through the trees, setting off an immediate atmosphere of dread.

"Do you still have it?" Kelly's mother asked.

Darby pulled out Fluff-Bun in response and gave it to her before nodding in reassurance.

"How much nightmare fuel have they gathered?" David asked.

"By the looks of it, almost enough." Darby answered. "There's no time to lose."

* * *

"Is that everyone?" Twintail's voice echoed.

"Nah, we're missing a couple." Another Marra's voice echoed. "Also, anyone seen Kelly?"

Some green wisps flew by the group, but they stayed hidden before they could get spotted. When it arrived at the bonfire, it was revealed to be Kelly.

"No… my sweet Kelly…" Her mother quietly cried. She couldn't believe it. But it was true.

"Sorry I'm late." Kelly said to the group. "The whole 'threaten their lives or loved ones' idea turned out to be more effective than I thought. We've bled the entire city dry of nightmare fuel." Kelly then released the nightmare fuel into the bonfire, much to Twintail's pleasure.

"Time to get this show on the road." Twintail announced. "I declare this Nightmare Vortex… _**OPE-**_"

"NOT TODAY!" Darby yelled, as he revealed himself alongside everyone else.

"_**OH, COME ON!**_" Twintail retorted in irritation. All Marras glared in Darby's direction. "Do the words 'retirement home' not ring any bells to you?!"

"I'll have plenty of retirement time in my _GRAVE!_" Darby yelled.

"THAT'S ONE THING THAT WE CAN AGREE ON!"

Kelly prepared a nightmare attack, but was attacked by David and Frida with the leather belts. "That old trick? Won't work on me anymore." She then threw them hard onto the ground, dazing them.

Meanwhile, Darby was doing all he could to fend off the Marras that were headed towards his direction. While he was agile for his age, there was still only so much that he could handle, and before long, he was beginning to be overwhelmed.

"STOP!" Kelly's mother screamed.

Then and there, the fighting stopped. Everyone watched as Kelly's mother went towards her daughter, who had been at the center of the sudden brawl.

"Kelly... listen to me..." Her mother began. "Are you really gonna do this to me? I raised you... and... did all the nice things I could for you... Did it ever actually mean anything to you?" She then pulled out Fluff-Bun.

The evolved Marra just stood there, looking at her mother and the stuffed rabbit. It was hard to make out, but once it was discernible, the conflicted and even somewhat guilty expression she had was just as hard to miss. But unfortunately, just as her mother seemed to be getting through to her…

"OF COURSE THEY NEVER MEANT ANYTHING!" Twintail interjected. "Why do you even think she ended up with us to begin with?!"

"You stay out of this. I want to hear it from her!" Her mother scolded.

"Do you, really? In fact, why don't _we _ask her how she feels about all this?" Twintail retorted.

Darby knew they absolutely had to intervene. To come this close only to have it all unravel would be nothing short of a catastrophe.

"EVERYONE, DON'T LET THEM INFLUENCE HER!"

Upon Darby's command, David and Frida's group started to say anything they could. The Marra, having noticed this, got in on it too, clearly not wanting another one of their own to betray them.

"YOU HAVEN'T COME ALL THIS WAY FOR NOTHING!"

"WE CAN GET YOU THE HELP YOU NEED!"

"THEY'RE NOTHING BUT WEAKLINGS!"

"YOU'RE JUST BEING USED!"

"THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT!"

The verbal tug-of-war went on, only becoming more indecipherable. Kelly had no idea on who to trust, but with all this shouting, she certainly wasn't going to get a clear answer. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore.

"**ENOUGH!**" Kelly screamed, scaring everyone in the vicinity, Darby included, silent. Some moments later, she sighed and spoke once more.

"Whatever path I choose is a decision that's mine to make. And no matter what happens, I know that there is _no_ going back. At all. Sometimes, that's just the way the world rolls. With that said...there's no place for my humanity anymore."

"Kelly… No…" Her mother begged; the tears welling in her eyes. "Please…"

"I love you, mom. I really do." Kelly began. "But it's too late for me now. Get away from here as far as you can."

"I always knew you had it in ya." Twintail gloated.

"Can it!" Kelly growled to Twintail, who seemed unfazed by the hostility.

David, Frida, and the others made one last effort to fight off the Marras around them, but were quickly tackled and prevented from making much movement.

"And now…" Twintail restarted. "Without any further interruptions...I declare this Nightmare Vortex... _**OPEN!**_"

All they could remember was a blinding green light that flooded the entire forest, a strong gust of wind pulling them toward it, their feet sliding along the ground, then a bright blue flash.

* * *

**To Be Continued in ****Chapter 11: The Vortex**

**Story Concept by jdubbam**

**Written by jdubbam, Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd **

**Special Thanks: D.D. Danger, FusionBlueCore**

**Inspired by "Remorse of an Adventurer" by D.D. Danger**


	12. The Vortex

**Previously…**

* * *

The Marra are victorious.

David, Frida, and co.'s plan to bring Kelly away from the brink has failed, and as a result, the Nightmare Vortex has opened to bring Trolberg to its' knees…

Elsewhere, Johanna awoke to find herself in the company of an old friend. After a tearful reunion, she then attempted to say her final goodbyes to her daughter, but was left unsure as to whether or not her soul would finally be at peace.

**And now, the continuation…**

* * *

**\- Chapter 11: The Vortex -**

Everyone soon woke up, the surface they lay upon feeling like feathers.

"GUYS!" A voice from directly below called out to them. Alfur recognized it almost immediately.

"Raven...?"

"In the flesh…wait, in the flesh, or in the feathers?"

**Trolberg Airspace**

**50 Minutes Before Sunrise**

"_**RAVEN!**_" Alfur cried. "You're here!"

"I know!" Raven replied. "What a peculiar coincidence. Unless you were also trying to figure out the deal with that giant green swirly thing."

"It's a very long story..." Alfur responded.

"How did you know to find us?" David asked.

"I didn't. I just happened upon you, and I saw that you were all in danger, so I swooped in and saved your bacon." Raven explained.

Everyone looked upon what had transpired. They could clearly see the newly opened vortex illuminating through the rainfall, almost like it was sucking it all in.

"This is all my fault…" Frida cried, as old wounds within her were reopened.

"What?" David inquired.

"Hilda is dead, her mum is in the hospital, and the Marra have gone berserk." Frida explained. "I could've saved this entire city so much grief had I not been so rotten..."

"It wasn't just you… It's actually partially my fault." David began. "I kept pressuring you, even when it was obvious you were going through a lot."

"That still wasn't any reason for me to say and do the things I did." Frida responded. "I know I won't be able to fix everything...but I do know how I'm going to stop this."

"How's that?" David asked.

"Part of the reason why they opened the vortex in the first place is because I told Kelly off. If they really want me that badly...then I'm going to give them precisely what they want."

"Frida! NO!" David protested. "DON'T _**DO THAT!**_"

"There's no other way, David. If it means they'll leave you and everyone else alone…it's a risk I'm willing to take. I'm sorry…"

"Why do you expect them to stop now?" Darby began. "They've already revealed their existence to the entire city, and they're committed to sucking as much nightmare fuel out from the populace as they can."

"And who knows what they'll do next? What if they take this beyond Trolberg? The _entire world as we know it_ may be in grave peril!" Alfur said. "We really need to stop letting our emotions impair our better judgement!"

"Frida...please listen." David pleaded. "This isn't going to solve anything in any way. If my Marra is anything to go by, even if they do take you in, it would only be a matter of time before they go back on their word."

"...You're right. It's not going to solve anything. I just...I just want to not mess everything up for once…" Frida sobbed, the realization coming to her. This had also invoked the guilt Raven still had, but he chose to keep quiet.

"There's still a chance for us to fix this. I know there is...and I know that there's still a chance for you, too." David assured as he put his hand on Frida's shoulder. "We have to find Hilda's mum and our families before we can do anything else, though."

"So, where are we landing?" Kelly's mother asked.

Raven scoured the ground far and wide. With the sound of things, he _really _needed to be careful with what spot he chose.

* * *

**Downtown Trolberg**

The past few days had proven to be a living nightmare for the citizens of Trolberg, in both the figurative and literal senses.

It was bad enough that word about a monstrous beast with a possible link to several disappearances was going around, but now people were coming out about injuries in dreams somehow carrying over to real life, along with visits they were receiving from these "horrible teenage demon things". Not just that, but they were also coming to threaten them that if they didn't "suck it up", not only would they stop holding any punches, but they would also go after their loved ones as well. Regardless, they held out hope that whatever was going on, it would be sorted out soon.

Today, they were going to learn just how wrong they were.

It had begun when sightings were reported about what looked like a far-off green vortex. Creatures of all shapes and sizes from people's worst nightmares seemed to flow forth from the vortex, and were making their way into the city. Those who came forth about what they saw had their suspicions proven right, as the creatures began to wreak absolute havoc across Trolberg. Giant, eight-legged beasts crawled around, not caring about the fissures they left in the pavement. Steer-esque monstrosities smashed up cars and demolishing stands. Winged abominations were snatching up and generally terrorizing citizens.

As the city descended into a chaotic, cacophonic flurry, the culprits at hand arrived on the scene to make an announcement.

"_**ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP!**_" Twintail yelled. "YOUR CITY IS NOW UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE MARRA! PRISONERS WILL BE CHOSEN AT RANDOM TO BE USED FOR THE OBTENTION OF NIGHTMARE FUEL, AND ANY AND ALL RESISTANCE WILL BE MET WITH A ONE-WAY TICKET TO AN ETERNITY IN THE NIGHTMARE REALM!"

"Oh, and don't even think about leaving the city." Kelly added. "We've got Marra sentries at every possible exit. Nobody's getting out or in."

The panicked screams of the citizens, mixed with the primal roars and screeches of the creatures, was nothing short of music to Twintail's ears. The Safety Patrol were doing all they could to maintain the carnage, but it was futile as even their most powerful weaponry proved to be useless against the creatures. They didn't even do as much as tickle them.

"Take a look around us, kid." Twintail said to Kelly in a psuedo-assuring tone. "This is only the beginning."

No response from her accomplice. At least, not until a few moments later.

"It's...neat." She muttered.

"Hey. Don't worry about those hosers." Twintail began. "By now, I can bet you they're headed straight for the hills. That said, even if they aren't… we're already more than prepared."

* * *

**Medical Department of Trolberg**

**47 Minutes Before Sunrise**

Maven and Johanna had overheard the announcement that Twintail made, as the attack was being broadcast on a nearby television. "Hilda told me about the Marra the night she helped David." Johanna gasped. "Why would they want to attack the city like this?"

"Must be something personal." Maven pondered. "But we need to get somewhere safe before we can think about any of that."

"Where are we supposed to go?"

"The library I work at has a room that isn't meant to be accessible to most visitors, but at a time like this, I'm going to have to make an exception. I'm sorry, Joey, but...this is gonna hurt."

"Do what you need to do, Maven." Johanna replied.

Taking her friend's word for it, Maven helped Johanna out of her hospital bed. It was rather obviously quite excruciating on Johanna's part, as she felt the pain from her wound radiating through every step of the way.

"You okay?" Maven asked.

"I think so." Johanna responded.

"There should be an exit route around these parts. We have to find it before one of those creatures gets here...if they haven't gotten in already." The librarian explained as she led Johanna out of the room.

"Maven, wait. There's friends of mine and my daughter's who are probably out there. They might be in danger!"

"Right. We better find them first."

"Wait… do we even know where they are now?" Johanna asked.

"Of course. Something tells me they're not too far away."

"What do you…"

Johanna stopped as she looked out a nearby window, and saw the Great Raven.

* * *

**Medical Department of Trolberg - Outside**

**44 Minutes Before Sunrise**

"Hey, look!" Raven pointed. "It's Hilda's mum!"

"And the Librarian!" Frida added.

As the Raven landed, everyone immediately rushed to them. Alfur and Twig in particular were overjoyed to see that Johanna was otherwise safe and sound.

"Mum! Are you alright?" Alfur inquired.

"…I'm hanging in there. How about you?"

"We could be doing a lot better ourselves… I take it you've heard about what's going on?" Frida asked.

"Both of us saw it being broadcast, actually." Maven responded. "Either way, this is definitely bad. We need to get to the library."

"But how? With the amount of Marra kin in the city, they could very easily find out that we're still onto them." Alfur said.

"Now that they've succeeded in opening the vortex, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that they no longer consider us a threat, or at least not a significant one. As far as they're concerned, we might have fled the city or gotten slaughtered by one of those creatures." Darby responded.

"My main question is how we're gonna stop them now." Frida pondered. "Since surrendering myself is out of the question…"

"Do you remember that book I showed to you and Hilda back when you were first dealing with the Marra?" Maven inquired.

"How will that help us now?" David asked.

"It might be useful for what I have in mind, but it's going to require all of us for it to work."

"If I may ask," Darby began, "We could also use your aid in saving a girl named Kelly. She's a convert of the Marra's, and we've been working just as tirelessly to stop her humanity from being completely overtaken."

"...I'll see what I can do for her. I can't promise everything." Maven responded.

"Wait. Before we go to the library... could you help David and I find our parents first? We have to know if they're okay." Frida asked.

"To tell you the truth, they could be anywhere… but I know you can't afford to lose anyone else." Maven responded.

As the attack continued to grow out of control, people were doing everything they could to get each other to safety. Who they were didn't matter: friends, relatives, strangers - whoever the individual, it seemed as if nobody was going anywhere fast without stopping to help who they could.

It wasn't even just with the humans, as the Nisse and Vittra – the former of whom were a species that couldn't even stand to be around each other out of a territorial grudge they held towards each other - were scrambling to get their respective brethren out of the city unseen. Some were even banding together to help humans escape!

"Hey, you!" A Vittra called to some panicking citizens. "Follow us! We know a safe way out of the city!"

"Oh, thank yo - wait, are you a talking plant?!"

"I think we can agree that's the least of your concerns!" The Vittra replied. "We can't let these freaks catch us, otherwise, we're all as good as dead!"

"You can drop that 'otherwise'."

The Vittra looked, a Marra sentry glaring at him dead in the eyes.

"C'MON!" In the nick of time, a Nisse emerged from a wall and grabbed the Vittra and citizen, pulling the two of them away into Nowhere Space. The Nisse was none other than Tontu.

With its' escapees out of sight, the disgruntled sentry went away to make a report.

* * *

**The Nowhere Space**

Inside the Nowhere Space, Tontu felt like he had made a horribly boneheaded move.

"... I've just exposed the Nisse." He whispered to himself in shock. "Oh, why did I do that…"

"We can hear you, ya know." The Vittra said, prompting an irritated glance from Tontu. Or at least that what it most likely was, given that his facial hair covered everything but his nose.

* * *

**Trolberg Streets**

**Sunrise**

On the lookout for Frida and David's parents, the group found themselves headed down what appeared to be a vacant street.

"...an entire vortex, you said?" Maven stammered.

"Indeed. It nearly pulled us in before the Raven had arrived." Darby explained.

"At the very least, it's not like things could get any worse, right?" David asked before taking notice of Maven's grim expression.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and assume that I shouldn't have said that."

"They have no idea what they've just done. An inter-dimensional collision such as this can only bode certain doom for us all."

"A little obvious with the whole 'terrifying monsters running around' thing…" Raven muttered.

"You don't understand." Maven began. "It'll get worse with time. If that vortex isn't closed within 24 hours, all of Trolberg will be sucked in and destroyed."

"Yep. Definitely shouldn't have said that…" David responded.

"If that's true, then how do we expect to close it anyway?" Frida pondered.

"Talking it out and explaining it to them is out of the question, so we'll need to come up with the safest way imaginable of doing it ourselves." Everyone tried to think of something, but none of them were able to come up with anything significant.

That was...except for David.

All of a sudden, the idea of the Marra fueling the vortex with a power source reminded him of something. What that something was, he didn't know, but he what he DID know was that for the sake of the city and everyone in it, it would be the key to solving this.

Then he thought back to when they were trapped in the House of Want. Hilda and Frida's voices echoed.

* * *

"_COME ON! Don't stop now, we've almost defeated it!" _

"_It's working! The house is having trouble keeping up." _

"_If the house doesn't want us to leave… then maybe we can get it to the point where it does." _

"_**... then maybe we can get it to the point where it does.**__"_

* * *

Back in the present, the much-needed potential solution was now apparent.

"We could overload it." David began.

"Um...the whole reason they opened the vortex was to obtain an infinite supply of nightmare fuel. How would that help us?" Alfur inquired.

"There's got to be so much that it could handle taking in at once. If just summoning it was enough to flood an entire forest in light, they wouldn't be stupid enough to not do it at least every few hours, and in a moderate supply." David explained, much to the surprise of everyone.

"He's right." Darby said. "If there's anyone who's gathering the most nightmare fuel of all the Marra, it'd be Kelly for sure. Perhaps...if possible, we could set a trap for her in the library that could separate her from her Marra half and extract all the nightmare fuel from it."

"Sounds like a plan." Frida agreed.

"Wait...do we still have Fluff-Bun?" David asked anxiously.

"I still got it." Kelly's mom answered. Turns out she held onto it that whole time.

"Hold on, guys… I see some people on the street." Raven said.

Upon closer inspection, however, Frida realized that they weren't just any people.

"They're my mum and dad!" She exclaimed. They were also being escorted by a group of Vittra.

The instant Raven landed, Frida hopped off and ran into both of her parents' arms. All three of them were relieved to know that the other had survived amidst the Marra's rampage.

"Frida! Oh, we're so happy you're safe…" Her mother muttered through tears.

"It's just horrible… the whole city, under attack like this…" Her father followed.

"It's Kelly. She's lost it completely, and the Marra are keeping her wrapped around their finger." Frida explained.

"Hate to halt a family reunion, but there's no time for small talk!" The Vittra announced. "We need to get going!" He said, prompting the others to follow his lead.

* * *

**The Vittra Tunnels**

**Sunrise**

Before long, everyone had made their way to what was now a hiding place for a portion of Trolberg's human populace. David's parents had also arrived there prior, and had reunited with their son.

"Ulugh…the smell in here is quite unpleasant…" Alfur groaned.

"First time?" Frida pointed.

"You know? Since there are plenty of humans here, maybe we could use this place to set the trap?" Johanna suggested.

"Perhaps. The thing is, there's no telling if they'll be up for it. They might be too frightened to even entertain the idea of going up against the Marra." Maven explained.

"Well, we can at least hope they won't find us here until we-"

David was suddenly cut off by a Vittra who came in speeding. They had nearly bumped into one another before Johanna had pulled him out of the way in time.

"Hey! What gives?" David inquired.

"WHAT GIVES? WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST STANDING AROUND?! THEY'RE HERE!" The Vittra screamed, loud enough for every other human and Vittra present to hear.

Suddenly...a green mist began to emanate from the tunnels. One that was all-too-familiar.

"It can't be…" Alfur cried in shock. "...not here, _**not now!**_"

Indeed, it couldn't have been. But it was.

They had already been outed.

"We better run!" Darby commanded. The rest of the crowd had erupted into a panic, scrambling to find a way out of the tunnels as many of them were snatched by the Marra.

"How were they find us so fast?!" Johanna questioned.

"I don't know, but we shouldn't stick around to find out." Maven responded. "If we can just get out of here and to the library in one piece, we'll be fine."

David struggled to keep up, but tripped on a vine and fell. "Ack!" He shrieked.

"DAVID!" Frida cried before running to get him. Just as she grabbed his hands, however, she felt a tug. A Marra had grabbed him, and was trying to take him as a captive!

"Well, if it isn't Frida...otherwise known as the traitor." The Marra said.

"LET GO OF HIM!" Frida demanded.

"And why exactly should I do that?"

"He's my friend!" Frida stumbled on her words.

"Oh really? How long until you abandon him like Kelly?"

"...I already did once. But I'm never going to do it again, especially if it means keeping him and everyone else safe from people like you!"

"I guess that means you're coming back to Kelly anyhow."

"SHE WAS _**NEVER**_ MY FRIEND!" Frida screamed, tightening her grasp on David's hands.

Suddenly, a leather belt chained itself around the Marra's legs. It was from Darby.

"Do you even understand who you're working for, or what you're doing to everyone?" Darby began. "There's still time for some of you to make your own choice! You just have to let us help you!"

"I'VE ALREADY MADE MY CHOICE!" The Marra retorted as another green light came from behind. Two more of them had emerged from it, grabbing Darby and Frida and allowing the Marra to take off with David in tow.

"NO!" Frida screamed.

"_**FRIDAAAA!**_" David yelled as he was dragged away.

* * *

**To Be Continued in ****Chapter 12: The Final Requiem (Part 1)**

**Story Concept by jdubbam**

**Written by jdubbam, Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd **

**Special Thanks: D.D. Danger, FusionBlueCore**

**Inspired by "Remorse of an Adventurer" by D.D. Danger**


	13. The Final Requiem (Part One)

**Previously…**

* * *

The Nightmare Vortex has begun to wreak havoc on Trolbeg. With the Marra having taken over the city, people were desperate to try and escape the city undetected. The Vittra and Nisse did what they could to lend a hand, but it was only a matter of time before they were inevitably found out.

To make matters worse, David had been taken captive in the midst of an attack on the Vittra's tunnel hideaway. With the countdown to obliteration ticking and places to hide in short supply, Johanna and co. are about to engage in the fight of their lives...

**And now, the continuation…**

* * *

**\- Chapter 12: The Final Requiem (Part 1) -**

**The Vittra Tunnels**

**Early Morning**

After David was taken away, many more green lights could be seen coming from the tunnel he was dragged through. By the time Frida and Darby finished fighting off the Marras holding them back, he was long gone. Frida was about to run towards the tunnel and chase after him before she was restrained by Darby, who had seen the lights. While it kept her from going anywhere fast, it didn't diminish her resolve by any means.

"Frida, don't!"

"LET GO OF ME! WE HAVE TO SAVE HIM!"

Johanna and Maven had made their way amidst the chaos and found Frida and Darby, the former looking significantly worse for wear. Johanna went to her, resting her hands on the hysterical girl's shoulders.

"Frida! Frida, are you okay? What happened? Where's David?"

"W-we were trying to find a quick way out, but o-one of them grabbed him and t-they… THEY TOOK HIM!" She screamed.

"There's nothing we can do for now. We only got ourselves." Maven said.

"What do you mean 'there's nothing we can do?!' We aren't leaving anyone!" Frida protested.

"Frida, calm down! I promise you, we'll think of something once we get out of here." Johanna assured her.

"There's no telling how many of them are flooding the tunnels. What we must do is slip out of here without being found." Darby informed the group as more green lights began illuminating the tunnels.

Elsewhere, a nearby Vittra proposed a last-ditch gamble. "Scuttle the tunnels! If we're lucky, it might slow them down!"

"Are you mad?!" Another one of them had protested. "Need I remind you that there's dozens of other people here as well?"

"Then evacuate who you can! WE HAVE NO TIME!" The Vittra continued.

With no other options left, the protesting Vittra reluctantly informed the others, all of them quickly going to work.

Johanna and co. had felt the foundation of the tunnels begin to loosen.

"What the heck is going on?!" Raven asked.

Darby looked around as his senses began to kick into overdrive.

"It's the tunnels...they must be collapsing!"

Before they could do anything, the sound of dirt and rocks falling onto the ground surrounded them. Raven instinctively shapeshifted into his larger form, and spread his wings out over everyone.

"TAKE COVER!" He shouted as any light that poured in from the surface went out.

* * *

**Site of the Nightmare Vortex**

**Early Morning**

David was brought before Twintail and Kelly, but they had noticed about a dozen or so Marras were missing.

"Uh, where's the rest?" Twintail began.

"Those stupid plant things…scuttled their hideaway…they're buried under give or take 20 meters of dirt and rocks..." The Marra carrying David explained in between exasperated breaths. She was also looking quite disheveled.

"Eh. We can carry on fine without 'em. After all, we just scored the most plentiful reservoir of Fuel this trash heap has to offer..." She continued, glaring towards David with an evil smile.

"But...we can't just leave them there..." The Marra responded, taken aback by how little concern Twintail expressed at the sitrep.

"Do you not remember what Kelly said?"

"...thinking about it will only slow us down."

"That's what I thought." Twintail finished.

* * *

**The Vittra Tunnels – Collapsed**

What was left of the tunnels surrounded everyone in nothing but darkness. Luckily, they could still breathe in the darkness… but it didn't seem as if it would last long due to the airborne dirt and the fact that all ways out were blocked, as well as the fact that there was no air coming in.

"Now what?" Frida cried. If anything, she could only hope that her and David's parents made it out okay.

"Shush. Just keep calm." Maven instructed. "In fact, don't even speak. You'll waste precious air. We'll need to wait for a rescue party."

"How is any sort of rescue party supposed to find us at a time like this?" Alfur inquired.

"The Vittra know their way around. Even when it seems improbable." Maven explained.

On cue, the sound of digging could be heard from a nearby wall. It had been a Vittra riding a cow, who not only noticed the trapped group, but also recognized one of them.

"Hey! I know you!" The Vittra pointed to Frida. "You were one of Hilda's friends, weren't ya?"

"Yeah, I was. Are you able to lead us out of here?" Frida asked.

"Certainly, but we better hurry. We're trying to find everyone we weren't able to evacuate in time."

"Can you get us to the Library?" Maven asked.

"That, I'm not so sure of. We should be able to get you to a place close to it, though." The Vittra answered. "It'll take a while to dig a tunnel there, and we gotta steer clear of those nightmare witch freakshows. If we free even one of them, we're toast."

It would take them several more hours to navigate and dig through the collapsed tunnels, but they were at least safe until then.

* * *

**Site of the Nightmare Vortex**

**Morning**

"What do you want from me?!" David asked fearfully.

Twintail chortled at the sight. "Just as afraid as ever, huh? The more things change, the more they _do_ stay the same." She laughed. "You'll be our greatest asset in keeping this vortex open. Remember how I said it's no fun giving nightmares to someone asking for them? Well, you can forget that. With what's-her-face dyin' on you and all, it's a GOLDEN opportunity to get Nightmare Fuel out of you."

"Y-you're taking advantage of THAT?"

"I have BEEN, you idiot!" Twintail howled in laughter. "Why do you think I came back in the first place?"

"But… she gave her life to save Trolberg! To save YOU!" David exclaimed, appalled by this reasoning.

"Please, it's not like we couldn't have just gone to another city. Still… I don't think that would've been nearly as satisfying if only because we wouldn't be getting back at you now." Twintail replied. "But enough table talk… it's time to get down to business."

"Wait, you're not just gonna throw him in?" Kelly asked Twintail.

"Nyeh. I'd like to get as much out of him before we start draining him dry in the Realm."

"YOU'RE INSANE!" David cried.

"And you're making me blush." Twintail snickered sarcastically, noticing that David looked pretty sheepish, him having only gotten about a half hour of sleep that night.

In response, Kelly used her evolved power to ensnare David in a binding seemingly made of Nightmare Fuel.

"Wh...what is this?!" David asked.

"One of my new powers." Kelly explained. "Works wonders on people who haven't slept at night, but it takes a good amount of Fuel to use. Though I think you'll see it pays for itself."

David seemed to struggle to keep his eyes open. And every time he blinked, he could feel his head tip over, and fighting his sleep became way harder. But it soon became too hard to avoid blinking, and he could feel his consciousness slipping away. The last thing he felt was his head tilting backwards before he fell asleep completely.

* * *

David woke up in his bed, feeling quite dizzy and nauseous.

Wait a second. If he was in his bed, than that meant…

**David's House**

**Early Morning**

Before David could even begin to think about what the cruddlesticks was going on, he heard his mother call him.

"David! Your friends are here!" She said.

"_Friends?_" David thought as he got up and changed into his casual clothes.

* * *

David travelled down his apartment and to the front door, all the while, feeling a sense of unease. When he opened the door, he was met with the sight of Frida and…

..._**HILDA?!**_ She was alive?!

"HILDA!" David cried, running down the stairs and glomping the blue-haired girl.

"D-David?!" Hilda shrieked. "What's gotten into you?"

David noticed Hilda's confusion at his sudden bear hug and let go, a little embarrassed but still overjoyed and relieved at the revelation that this was all just a dream. "Umm… sorry about that. I got a little bit excited, that's all." David blushed. "Wait, what day is it again? I can't remember."

Hilda told him what day it was. It was months into the past compared to what he thought was all just a bad dream, but he had remembered this day clearly. The day Hilda took him and Frida on a visit to the Rat King. This couldn't have been right...could it?

"So… uh… bug on you, David." Frida pointed.

"I got it." Hilda grabbed the bug and let it free. "So, now what are we going to do?"

"We could ride bikes." Frida proposed, exactly as David remembered it. As Hilda responded, David glanced toward Twintail on the other side of the road. It was very brief, but he barely noticed her turn her head away from him.

"Like, who's that girl?" Hilda eventually said after her short ramble about adventure. "And what dastardly scheme has she been up to?" 'Dastardly Scheme' was right, at least, Nightmare wise.

"She's the one who appeared in my nightmare!"

"David…" Frida groaned. "Please."

"Nightmare?"

"I can't remember the past week clearly, but I'm pretty sure I've been having nightmares all week… but all the others combined weren't nearly as bad as the one I had last night." As David spoke, he could see Twintail smirking at him at the corner of his eye.

"What happened in it?"

David turned to see Hilda looking at him. He knew that if they wanted to get to the bottom of this, he would have to tell her everything he remembered...and that was exactly the problem.

How was he supposed to break it to Hilda that he had a nightmare about her dying? How would she and Frida even begin to process that?

"Hilda, don't be nosy." Frida reprimanded her.

"Sorry." Hilda said. "But, what do you think could have caused it?"

From what he remembered, he knew for sure that it wasn't Hilda causing the nightmares.

"Not you. I know that for sure."

"Whatever the case, we need to figure out what's causing your nightmares." Hilda suddenly noticed that Twintail was gone, and saw her walking to an alleyway. "Come on!"

Hilda took to pursuit, not paying any mind to a car that was about to hit her.

"HILDA, _**NO!**_" David screamed, pushing Hilda out of the way of the car. He seemed to remember this from another nightmare of his, but the car had hit him instead this time.

"What the… _DAVID!_" Hilda screamed.

David fell to the ground, but, for getting hit by a speeding car, he seemed pretty okay. But he then noticed that Twintail, instead of walking away, she was running, as if to get away.

"David! Are you alright?" Hilda called to him, her voice wavering.

"No…" David reached to pinch himself. But his fingers were being pushed away from his skin. He gasped at the realization. This wasn't real at all, and the Marra were actively keeping him from pinching himself.

"Uh, guys?! I think he's going lucid!" A faint voice could be heard.

"Well, don't just stand there, do something, snap him out of it!" Another one said.

"This isn't real. THIS ISN'T REAL!" David screamed. "I'M DREAMING!"

A blue aura suddenly surrounded him. He felt like he could fly. He saw a green aura emanating from a distance and instinctively darted towards it, phasing right through the buildings and getting the jump on Twintail.

This was HER nightmare now.

* * *

"Enough games." David stated belligerently after tackling the pigtailed Marra. "You're not going to hurt as much as a fly when I'm through with -"

David stopped right in his words as he noticed that who he had gotten the drop on wasn't Twintail, or any Marra for that matter. In fact, it wasn't even a person it all, just a mannequin made to look like Twintail.

"What the...?"

"Man, I knew you weren't the sharpest tool in the shed, but now I almost feel sorry for you!" A very familiar voice mocked. He turned around, finding himself face-to-face with the real deal Twintail. "Did you really think we'd let you be the hero for this long and _not_ have some sort of catch to it?"

"Cut the flippin' crap!" David interjected. "None of this is real. You're just using my faults against me."

"Ooo, 'crap'! I see you're feeling particularly bold, huh?" Twintail said. "I'd be careful, though. You wouldn't want your folks catching you with such a filthy mouth. And a filthy mouth… can only be CLEANSED!"

David was confused by what Twintail meant until he looked down and saw a strange black substance bubbling from a fissure in the concrete. It immediately leaped and latched onto his mouth, trying to force itself into it and suffocate him. He tried with all his might to pull it off, its' tough and rubbery form making it quite difficult to do so.

"_Ugh… this stuff isn't real. You can just get rid of it._" David thought to himself. With this resolve, he pulled harder and harder, finally being able to completely haul the substance off of him and throwing it away.

David mustered up the aura again and soared towards Twintail. The Marra had anticipated this, and moved right as he was about to charge into her, causing David to collide into a trash can. He was briefly dazed, but quickly regained his footing. No way was he going to let her win this one.

He briefly noticed a cut on his cheek, but paid no mind to it.

"God, this is embarrassing. Sure you don't wanna quit while you're ahead?"

Refusing to let Twintail's words get to him, David picked up the trash can with little effort and threw it at her, which she dodged with ease. As it turned out, being lucid had given him abilities he didn't know he had or needed, but was grateful for nonetheless. But up against a Marra, the matchup was just about even. The only difference was that the Marra needed to consume Nightmare Fuel, and David only had to try to stay asleep.

Unfortunately for him, that was starting to become an issue. When David flew towards Twintail, he started to feel like he was coming to, and tried to shake it off. That proved to be a mistake as he was too distracted to notice Twintail holding what looked like a giant ping pong paddle. She whacked him with it, sending him flying back and into another one, which sent him flying upward and into _another _one. Twintail warped back and forth with the paddle, cackling maniacally to herself.

"What's wrong, Davey? Don't know how to have a ball?" Twintail joked.

"_You can go right through it._" David muttered to himself. "_It's fake. It's fake._"

Focusing before he hit another paddle, David was able to phase right through it, landing on the ground and tumbling slightly. He had gotten some noticeable bruises, but not even this would deter him.

"Catch me if you can~!" Twintail mocked in a sing-song tone as she flew over him.

David took to the skies once more, fighting off the waking feeling with all his might.

* * *

When Twintail noticed that David was gaining on her, she thought to herself how she could keep this from dragging out any longer. Ironically enough, thinking about something actually proved to be a liability for her as it give David enough time to catch up to her completely. He grabbed Twintail by the scarf and threw her through a building, which were all vacant due to them being in a dream. The stunned Marra had tried to regain her sense of surroundings, and did so just in time to see David coming straight towards her and through the hole in the wall left by her impact.

Crashing out the other side of the building, the brawl continued. While David and Twintail were evenly matched in powers, the former was admittedly not one you could bet on when it came to combat. Twintail mostly got the upper hand, landing the most punches and kicks, but David was able to throw a good amount of his own in for good measure, even going as far as to bite down on one of Twintail's arms.

Twintail had managed to forced David off of her as the two floated around in front of each other. They stared at each other fiercely, plotting out their next move as well as what the other would resort to. As they charged towards each other, David caught Twintail by surprise by putting her in a lockdown.

But right then and there, they heard two voices. Looking down, they saw that they were coming from Hilda and Frida. David paid no mind to them, knowing they weren't real.

"_Hold it._" Twintail realized._ "What's-her-face was still alive when she found out about me, so that would mean… OF COURSE! Why didn't I think of that sooner?" _

The pigtailed Marra worked her arms up to David's hands and scorched them lightly, allowing her to change course with the latter wasting no time in pursuing her.

* * *

When David caught up with Twintail, he noticed that he was back around where his house was. He saw Hilda and Frida running towards him.

"DAVID! What's going on?! Wait, are you FLYING?!" Frida asked flabbergasted.

David was about to tell himself once again that they weren't real until he noticed a plume of green smoke rising at the corner of his eye. He didn't know what Twintail had done nor did he want to, but he reminded himself that it was only an illusion.

Just as he was about to head towards it, however, he had heard Hilda realize something.

"Wait...that looks like it's coming from..._**MY HOUSE!**_" She screamed. Hilda began to run towards it as fast as she could, Frida following her.

"Don't play this game with me!" David roared.

He watched as Hilda darted towards her flat.

"I'm… I'M FALLING FOR NONE OF IT! You hear me?!" David exclaimed anxiously. He noticed that the plume had suddenly turned into a growing fire.

"T-THIS IS MY DREAM! THIS… THIS IS… MY…"

Though he knew it was an obvious ploy, David couldn't help but let his emotions get the better of him. He just couldn't bring himself to let his friend suffer such a loss, even if it was an illusion of them.

By the time he had gotten there, Hilda's house was completely ablaze. A crew of firefighters had arrived on the scene, but their efforts were seeming to be in vain. The illusion of the blue-haired girl stared at the horrific sight, her eyes welling with tears. Her mum, Twig, and Alfur were there before she left, and they were most likely still in there.

"I can put it out, I can-" David blinked in the middle of his sentence.

No. Not now.

As David tried to think of a way to quickly douse the flames, he heard a scream and a yell. Hilda had ran into the burning house to try and get her family out!

"HILDA!" Frida shrieked.

"KID, DON'T!" One of the firemen shouted.

Shortly after Hilda went in, the house's structure was no longer able to support itself. It collapsed in on itself entirely, leaving behind only a smoldering mound of rubble.

* * *

**Site of the Nightmare Vortex - The Waking World**

"**AAAAAAHH!"**

When David awoke screaming, he found himself trapped in the binds again, right back into what he thought was just a bad dream. The bindings vanished, dropping him down to the ground below.

He looked up to see Twintail and Kelly right above him.

"That did the trick." Twintail laughed. "Y'know, if you had managed to drag that out longer, Kelly would've had to jump in fully."

David noticed that the bruises he sustained from the brawl, as well as the cut on his cheek and burn marks on his hands, were still there.

"H-how did this even happen?" David cried.

"Just ask Kelly. She knows a thing or two about that." Twintail chuckled.

David remembered the newspaper he and Frida read the other day, as well as what Twintail told them when they had trapped her. "You did all that?"

"Man, if I had a penny for every question with obvious answers you guys ask…" Twintail responded. "You should've seen how your stupid friend's mom took it, though. If only I had known how much fun grieving parents are to work with.

As Twintail went on, David felt an innate numbness run through him, as if the world around him had just became invisible to him.

And then… he felt something _snap_.

Everything that he had gone through in the last few months was bad enough as it was. And now, here was the girl who had tormented him so not only bragging about his deceased friend, but also the effect that it had on her mother.

"I don't get it." David bluntly interjected.

"Get what?" Twintail asked.

"How could you… anybody... be so mean?" He began. "So… inconsiderate? This goes beyond shameful. It's downright_ evil_. Making light of someone's loss is one of the worst things you can do to them."

"Whoa-ho, shut the front door! Mister Morality's in the house!" Twintail snarked, laughing at her own callous quip before realizing that none of her fellow Marra were laughing alongside her…not even Kelly.

"I used to be afraid of you... but not anymore." David continued, provoked even further by Twintail's remark. "I _**hate**_ you. You are the biggest bully to have ever existed, AND I HOPE YOU_ BURN IN HELL FOR THIS, YOU__** MONSTER!**_" He finished with a resounding scream. Every Marra present fell silent. David gasped at himself, realizing what he had just said.

* * *

Darby's words echoed in the mind of the Marra that took him during the assault on the Vittra Tunnels.

"_Do you even understand who you're working for, or what you're doing to everyone?" Darby's voice began. "There's still time for some of you to make your own choice! You just have to let us help you!" _

_Then her own words. "I'VE ALREADY MADE MY CHOICE!"_

Because of David's outburst, and what Twintail had said moments earlier, she wondered if she even made the right choice. Or even worse, if she even made that choice to begin with...

* * *

While Kelly was still trying to figure out what to say to David, Twintail still managed to have quite a lot to say.

"You can come up with a million more lectures once you're in the locker, Davey Jones." Twintail began. "And it ain't gonna be yours."

"With all due respect...that was just-" Another Marra was about to comment on just how bad Twintail's sense of humor was before she was met with a death stare.

"...shutting up."

"Actually, he's coming with me." David's captor Marra stated.

"What are you talking about?" Twintail inquired.

David suddenly gasped as his body suddenly poofed into Marra material, and was dragged away by his captor who had also turned into Marra dust.

Twintail and Kelly stared in shock, the former practically turning red with rage. Not helping was what the other Marra from before said before getting cut off by her again.

"Should we-"

"_**YES!**_" Twintail screamed, prompting everyone else to warp away in fear one by one. But Kelly wouldn't go. She had a face that which its meaning, Twintail couldn't comprehend.

"Well? What are you standing around for?!"

Twintail couldn't tell, but Kelly seemed to be hurt deeply. But she eventually obeyed, albeit reluctantly.

"_Keep it together, Twintail. It's just a minor setback._" The previously enraged Marra thought to herself as she warped away after Kelly.

* * *

**Trolberg Streets**

"Why did you do that?"

"Don't take it personally. I have my own reasons." The rogue Marra said to David before muttering to herself. "I knew I had second thoughts about becoming one of them…"

"...can you take me to my friends?" David asked hopefully.

"As far as I know, they've been buried in the Vittra tunnels…" The rogue began. "They would be lucky to survive for this long."

This obviously didn't sound good to David, but he held out hope that they were okay regardless.

"We shouldn't stay still. They'll find us." He told the rogue.

"I know." She responded.

The rogue suddenly grabbed David's hand and poofed them both into glowing Marra dust.

* * *

**Noon**

David's Marra continued snaking through the city with David in tow, staying hidden from the sight of any of her brethren. Their security on the city had been crippled due to a significant loss of Marra scouts, and a significant loss of morale on their part as a result.

"Wait. Is that them?" David would've pointed at the Library if his body wasn't currently Marra dust.

"Where?"

"In the library." David said. The rogue took a closer look. It was indeed his friends.

"Looks like it." She confirmed.

"Take me over there!" David asked.

* * *

**The Library**

Back inside, everyone was trying to figure out how the hell they were going to juggle saving David _and _closing the vortex. Going off of where the Vittra rescue team had left them, everyone had managed to get to the library without much trouble.

"It's too risky." Darby said. "We all know what happens every time that move is pulled. Nothing but big trouble."

"Well, we have to think of _something!_ Who knows what they could be doing to him?!"

Just then, they saw the formation of that unmistakable green mist.

"Alright, THAT TEARS IT!" Raven said in frustration before shapeshifting into his larger form. Everyone else was prepared for the worst as well, and readied to defend themselves…

...that was, until they saw David. Frida had noticed his injuries, and was absolutely enraged.

"Guys, wait! It wasn't her!" David explained. "It was my Marra and Kelly!"

Everyone had eased up, but were still suspicious nonetheless. The rogue Marra dropped her power completely.

"I'm only endangering all of you by being here, but if I leave, you'll think I'll just rat you all out. The only way to ensure our safety is if I lose my powers for good." The rogue Marra said.

"If I may ask, what is your name?" Darby inquired.

"Gretchen."

"Gretchen, in order for this to work, you must confess your sins."

"When I joined the Marra, I had felt like for the first time in my life, I belonged somewhere." Gretchen began. "But… I didn't stop to consider exactly what I was getting into. I just thought the whole thing was for laughs, like a sort of prank that was harmless in the long run. Even when it got worse, I was too scared to just speak up and quit. I wanted to please them no matter what... and now the whole city's under attack because of it. I'm so sorry..."

Everyone was silent for a while.

"Your sins are forgiven..." Darby answered. "...and your humanity is now restored."

Gretchen stood back up, looking at her hands.

She was a Marra no more.

She looked at everyone else, and then at Darby, tears of regret over her actions and relief that she would be able to redeem herself rolling down her face.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"It actually worked…" Alfur said in shock. "Erm, not that I was skeptical about it."

"How on earth did you do that?" Johanna inquired.

"When a Marra wishes to atone for what they've become, they will go through a process that completely strips them of their powers." Darby explained. "It consists of them swearing off using their power ever again and distancing themselves from it. It's purely voluntary, and if and _only if _there's a truly good reason to use their Marra power ever again, then…" Darby trailed off at such a possibility. "Well, none of them actually ever used their powers ever again, so I assumed that it stripped it away for good."

"You… never actually thought about it, have you?" Alfur asked.

"I-I'm afraid not, heh…" Darby chuckled, embarrassed.

"Alright, back to closing the vortex." Frida began. "We need to set a trap now."

"I'll get the book." Maven said as she headed off soon before returning with it.

"I recall you telling me earlier that they have a convert." Maven told Darby. "Her name was Kelly, was it?"

"Yes." Darby responded.

"Right. There is actually another process to restore a Marra's humanity… but I don't believe it would be one you would agree with.

"...go on." Darby said.

"Very well." Maven turned to the page describing the aforementioned process.

"As written here, it is possible to separate one's Marra self from their human half by force." Maven explained. "However… and I cannot stress this enough ... it's a _very_ delicate process. If even the slightest mistake is made, it could end up severely wounding or even killing the subject."

"THEN THAT'S OUT OF THE QUESTION!" Kelly's mother protested.

"Do you have any other ideas?" Maven asked.

"That's beside the point, and I'm still not running this risk. Whether or not we can bring her back… Kelly still means the world to me."

"My daughter, Hilda meant the world to me too." Johanna interjected. "When she died, I had no clue what I was going to do. Since then, I've… made decisions that I'm not proud of. But if there's one thing I've learned from those decisions, it's that after a while, you have to try and come to terms with something in order to start living again. And I'm certain that if we all work together, we can pull this off."

"But… how do we know for sure this is going to work?" Kelly's mother inquired.

"Hilda would've been certain of it as well." David responded.

"The entire city, Kelly included, is counting on us, ma'am." Darby joined in. "You gave me your trust in bringing her back to you, and I've made it clear that I'm going to make sure that happens no matter what. We just need you to give us your trust on this."

"...Okay. I only ask of you… please be careful."

"I assure you, we will."

"Right then." Alfur began. "What else do we need to know about that separation process?"

"Following the restraining of the subject in question, a ritual is to be performed." Maven began, pointing to the exact text on the page. "Recite the chant a total of five times, and, with any luck, the subject's Marra half shall be expelled."

"I just thought of something. If Kelly's been gathering more Nightmare Fuel than any of the other Marra… than why don't we use her Marra half to overload the vortex and close it?" David suggested.

"Then we would need something to keep it immobilized while we extract the Fuel from it. It could very well be aggressive, but after a while, it should cool down." Maven replied.

"Wait. Do we even know how we're going to extract the Nightmare Fuel?" Johanna inquired.

"It… it doesn't say!" Maven replied.

"What? That can't be right!" Frida exclaimed.

Maven gave Frida the book. Looking at it for herself along with Alfur, who had put on his glasses, they found that the librarian had made no mistake.

"I guess only a Marra can absorb it."

"I think I could still do it." Gretchen vouched.

"But you just swore off your powers!" Frida replied.

"Just this once, I can make an exception for closing the vortex."

"Maybe I can." David began. Everyone looked at him.

"You're joking, right?" Maven said.

David shook his head in response. He was not.

"D-David… you're not even close to being a Marra." Frida pointed. "I-In fact, I'm even closer to being a Marra than you are."

"Yeah… perhaps not. But…" David continued. "When I was brought to them, they tried to nightmare me one last time. However, right in the middle of it, I ended up going lucid. I had a chance to feel what it was like."

"Listen, kid. I was a Marra for at least six months." Gretchen replied. "You, on the other hand, other than that one lucky chance, have no experience as one whatsoever. As a matter of fact, I don't know if either of you can handle such power. It's gotta be me."

"And if you may remember, a former Marra can use their powers again _only if _they have a truly good reason for doing so." Darby added.

As the conversation went on, Alfur had noticed Raven staring outside of one of the windows. He took a deep breath and approached him, knowing exactly what was on his mind.

"Raven..." He began. "I cannot even begin to express how grateful I am that you came back for us."

"Well… it's the least I could do." Raven began. "Look, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. I screwed up. Big time. But I know for a fact Hilda wouldn't want me moping around while the city gets destroyed." Raven explained. "I wanted to make up for it, so I made it a commitment to never make a stupid mistake like that ever again."

"Raven... it... wasn't your fault."

"Wh...what do you mean?"

"Please, don't take this the wrong way, but… what happened to her… it was out of your hands… or… wings… whatever qualifies as hands for you."

"Y-you're saying she was doomed from the start…?" Raven's eyes were welling with tears again.

"No! No, no! I'm sorry, I had meant… I… I… don't know."

Neither of them said a word for a few minutes until Alfur tried to continue.

"Sometimes… there's no clear way of knowing how things could have turned ou-"

Alfur suddenly felt Raven place his wing on him.

The Thunderbird sighed. "You don't have to apologize. I get it." Raven responded. "There's no way I could've known… I mean, she could've already been dead, but she wasn't. But you're right. I have to move on from this regardless. I don't know how, or even _if_ I can… but I gotta try. For her." Although old wounds were reopened, he understood that he couldn't keep beating himself up over this. Especially not now.

"Hey, you two!" They heard Maven calling them.

"What's happening?" Alfur asked.

"We've worked out a plan, and we'll need your help to pull it off. This is going to be complicated, so pay close attention…"

* * *

**Sundown**

Tonight, it was now or never.

Kelly's trap had been set. Everyone knew precisely what to do, and with only a matter of time before the city was sucked into the vortex, there was no more room for error. _Everything_ had to go off without a hitch.

Gretchen peeked outside through the window, a familiar form catching her eye.

"She's here!" Gretchen prompted everyone. "Get ready!"

The form had passed through the entrance, revealing itself to most definitely be Kelly. "Well, if it isn't the _other_ traitor." She began. "Running away with our prized possession. Now… ahem… where are you hiding him?"

"I don't owe you anything." Gretchen replied defiantly.

"Really? I guess I'll just drain all the Fuel that you have." Kelly stated before she began trying to do so… but in vain.

"What? Why isn't it working?!"

Yeah, about that; I'm not a Marra anymore."

"You- ugh… GODDAMMIT!" Kelly barked. "Look, I'm giving you to the count of three to tell me where he is, and so help me if you don't spill the beans by the time I'm done, I… uh… actually, I don't know what I'll do. But whatever it is, it ain't going to be pleasant!"

"I believe you." Gretchen countered.

"One…"

"..."

"...Two…"

"..."

"... _**Three**_**!**"

"I'M RIGHT HERE!" A voice called out from Kelly's right.

She looked towards it, and saw that it came from none other than David.

"You want that well of Nightmare Fuel out of me? You've got it." David said.

"So you're just surrendering yourself to me? Something seems fishy about this." Kelly wondered.

"Trust me. I'm a sitting duck. There's nothing I can do to stop you. After all… you can't possibly say no to that good Nightmare Fuel, riiiight?"

Kelly looked at him and grunted. She then trapped him in the binds, just as she had done before. David was very trusting of his friends, but he realized that if he relaxed, he could expose the entire scheme. Even if he fake struggled, that wouldn't have suited the mood he established. So he relaxed anyway, praying that Kelly wouldn't notice. And luckily, she didn't.

* * *

**David's Dream**

Before David fell asleep, he had a dream planned beforehand. Now that he had awareness of whether or not he was in one, it only made sense for him to take as much advantage of it as possible.

Kelly found herself in David's room. The lights were off, and it had gone dark.

"Perfect." David said triumphantly, laying atop his bed in a sassy pose. His eyes were glowing faintly blue.

"You've gone lucid already?!"

"Kinda. I had this planned out from the start."

"You do realize I'm gonna kill you now, right?"

"I wouldn't be too sure of that, but be my guest."

"I meant the REAL you!" Kelly threatened.

"Still not a problem, because you're not going anywhere." David explained. "We've got you trapped like a rat."

"We?" Kelly wondered, shortly before she began struggling. She couldn't move at all. "Ugh! Release me!"

"Oh, that isn't me."

* * *

**The Waking World**

Kelly woke up, noticing that she was caught in a bunch of leather belts. "Oh of course you'd do that!" Kelly growled. "You tried this before, but I already told you it WON'T- GAH!" Kelly was cut off by Raven clobbering her from above, followed by a powerful electrocution that weakened her to the point of being unable to struggle from her bindings.

"Kelly, you've got to understand. I renounced my status as a Marra because I felt that Twintail's schemes did more harm than good in every regard." Gretchen began. "I wanted to feel like I belonged somewhere, and for the first few months as a Marra, I did! But lately, Twintail forced us into doing horrible things. And I felt not only like she had no concern for the well being of any of us, but everyone hates us and wants us dead. But I could never muster up the courage to rebel against her. She's been playing us like fiddles!"

"You…" Kelly groaned, the realization setting in.

"Don't you want to feel loved?" Gretchen asked. "I know I do…"

"I…" Kelly breathed shortly before her mother stepped forward with her Fluff-Bun.

"Hey! Don't listen to her! She's lying!" Twintail's voice came from the entrance.

"You stay out of this!" Gretchen demanded.

"Come on, Kelly. We're pals, remember? Are you seriously going to listen to her before me?"

"Kelly… do you remember me?" Her mother asked. "Do you remember… your dad?" Something about that last word struck a chord within Johanna. Meanwhile in the background, Darby and Maven were chanting the spell.

"I...I do…"

"Do you remember what he gave to you? Without him, I wouldn't have been able to make this for you while we were poor…" She raised the Fluff-bun.

"M-my Fluff-Bun…" Kelly murmured as her Marra aura faded away.

"Will you… come back to me…?" Her mother pleaded.

"Mom… do you hate me?" Kelly asked. "Especially after what I've done?"

"No, dear… never…" Her mother answered. "You're my daughter… If I didn't care about you, I wouldn't be here." She gave Fluff-Bun to Kelly, who stared at the toy. Kelly allowed a few droplets of her tears to fall on its' fur, and affectionately cuddled the plush rabbit. But this did nothing but irritate Twintail, who quickly lost her patience.

"OH, FOR CRYING OUT…" Having had enough of this, Twintail snatched Fluff-Bun out of Kelly's hands.

"Hey! W-what are you doing?!"

"You love this stupid _**[EXPLETIVE REDACTED]**_ toy that much, huh?! Then let's see how you love _THIS!_" In a fit of rage, Twintail set fire to the Fluff-Bun and threw it to the ground.

''_**NOOO!**_" Kelly screamed as the stuffed animal burned to ash by Twintail's hand.

"Give me a goddamn break." Twintail audibly muttered as she facepalmed, not caring for how her statement only twisted the knife in further.

Kelly fell to her knees and tried to blow out the flames, but it didn't help. There was nothing left of it. She silently cried over the ash remains of her beloved Fluff-Bun as Twintail eventually walked beside her.

"You done?" Twintail asked nonchalantly. She noticed that once again, Kelly wasn't responding.

"Hey. I asked you a question. You done being a baby or what?" Kelly's mother stepped forth.

"Don't you dare get any closer or utter another WORD to her, you horrible, despicable girl…"

"My mom and dad made it for me when we were poor… before my dad… PASSED AWAY..." Kelly tearfully shaked in rage. "I'LL NEVER LET YOU COMMAND ME AGAIN!" But just as she finished, Darby and Maven had finished chanting.

It had worked. Kelly's Marra half was completely extracted.

"What the?!" Twintail screamed as the mass of Marra energy fell to the floor. "What did you do?!"

"We did it!" David shouted.

"You...actually managed to extract her powers from her..." Twintail muttered, stunned by the procedure. She started to giggle lightly, followed by a round of slightly louder chuckling. Before long, she had moved on to hysterical laughter. "_You glorious morons._"

"What are you talking about?" Frida asked.

Twintail chose to let the reasoning behind her insult speak for itself as she immediately went for Kelly's now-extracted Marra half. Frida gasped at the sight, and everyone else was completely taken aback.

"Oh… cruddlesticks…" David cursed.

"...What have we done..." Maven cried.

"Yes." Twintail mockingly replied as her body grew and contorted. Spikes formed over her shoulders and back, and her voice also became more distorted and grovely.

"What have you done, indeed. Kelly's evolved power is now MINE! And now I've become the most powerful Marra the world has ever seen! Kneel before… _**THE NIGHTMARE EMPRESS!**_"

Twintail unleashed a powerful wave of energy that, once it passed through everyone, green Nightmare Fuel began to passively seep out of them and into her. Her rage, combined with the sudden and forced transformation, had turned her into a ferocious, animalistic humanoid just as large in size, if not slightly more so, than Raven in his shapeshifted form. Now, she only had one thing on her mind.

The complete and utter obliteration of her enemies.

Twintail's new powers had allowed her to perform all sorts of physical feats. Expanding the size and length of her arm, she casually thwacked Darby and Maven aside and into a nearby bookshelf, causing a pile of books to fall on both of them.

Gretchen, Kelly's Mother and Twig tried to run to their side, but were prevented from doing so as Twintail's hand formed into an axe. It slammed down hard, just barely landing in front of them.

Following that, David and Frida had noticed Twintail now had her sights set on them specifically.

"Boy, did that whole 'going lucid' thing work out for you!" Twintail as she charged towards the two kids. Elongating her legs and body, she stretched out over them almost like a slinky. "NOT!" She blurted as she landed in front of them.

Raven instinctively shapeshifted and charged headfirst into Twintail. Landing the hit right on her stomach, he sent her flying straight through the wall.

"GO, GO!" Johanna yelled, grabbing David and Frida by their hands and getting them away from the oncoming throwdown.

As they joined the others in getting Maven and Darby out of the book pile, Raven and Twintail began to duke it out. After some strikes, Raven discharged some lightning, but after the bright flash, he could hardly see where Twintail went.

"Wh-where did you just g- guhh!" Raven was cut off when Twintail suddenly grabbed Raven by his wings, bringing herself towards him as he flailed around in her grasp.

"Head...wings...legs..." She began. "So many snacks, so little time."

"Y-you don't scare me!" Raven exclaimed. He did his best to show courage, but to the Marra, it was evident that he was absolutely terrified.

"Of course, a little improvisation never hurt anyone…"

Twintail enlarged her mouth and jaw, which in her current form displayed sets of jagged teeth of varying sizes. Raven realized just what was about to happen to him, and then and there, all defiance vanished.

"Hey, w-wait a second! Don't do it! DON'T-"

Raven was unable to finish as Twintail savagely clamped her maw down on an area close to where his neck would be. Not only did she end up producing an agonized screech from the Thunderbird, but she had also severely weakened him to the point he could fight no longer as the flailing slowly came to a stop.

"...relatively speaking." Twintail finished as her mouth let go of Raven.

Everyone had gasped in terror at the sight...but it was Alfur who took it worst of all.

"_**RAVEN, NOOOO!**_" He screamed.

Twintail threw Raven in the direction where everyone else was in the hopes that his mass would flatten them. Johanna and co. had all managed to scramble away in time. The impact of Raven's body did, however, produce a mighty thud which sent them tumbling on the floor, and also caused several books to fall out from their shelves. The pain that he was in also caused his body to involuntary shapeshift back to its' smaller form.

Alfur ran towards the wounded Thunderbird as a pool of blood formed around him. "Raven…" he whispered, his eyes welling with tears. "Please...not you too…"

"...I'm coming, Hilda..." Raven said hoarsely, too delirious to notice Alfur and his surroundings. "I'm coming..." He gave a weak smile as he stared at the ceiling.

Twintail went to observe her handiwork. Alfur was quietly sobbing over Raven's body.

"Hey, lighten up, shrimp! I bet what's-her-face will be ecstatic knowing she's got someone to keep her company now!"

"Why?" Alfur asked, trembling in distress. "_**Why him?!**_"

"Oh, it won't just be him."

"What the- AAAHHH!" Johanna screamed from behind him. She was grabbed by Twintail, who began to squeeze her tightly.

"No! Please!" Alfur begged. "Stop!"

"You and that pathetic little bird will be seeing your daughter real soon. Make sure to give her my regards."

Twintail strengthened her grasp on Johanna, intent on crushing her to death. The wound she had from Kelly's attack proved to be very exploitable.

"_**JOEY!**_" Maven shrieked.

"Father Darby… what do we do?!" David asked.

Darby looked at Twintail as she continued to squeeze Johanna, as well as Raven's body. As much as it pained him to say it… he had nothing.

"...God, help us…"

Twintail stretched her jaw wide open again, having settled for eating Johanna alive to see how everyone else would react. As she dangled Johanna over her mouth, she mulled about what to do with everyone else. Raven was likely already as good as dead by her hands, so perhaps she could think outside the box for what to do next. She could send them into the Nightmare Realm one by one, or maybe she could slaughter them all in one go. Whatever the case, it looked like she was going to come to a decision momentar-

_**"****LEAVE MY MUM ALONE!"**_

* * *

**To Be Concluded in ****Chapter 13: The Final Requiem (Part 2)**

**Story Concept by jdubbam**

**Written by jdubbam, Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd **

**Special Thanks: D.D. Danger, FusionBlueCore**

**Inspired by "Remorse of an Adventurer" by D.D. Danger**


	14. The Final Requiem (Part Two)

**The Lucid Power**

Named after the ability to gain self awareness within a dream. It is far more powerful than that of a Marra, but it is very unstable and may cause the subject to wake up. But if used correctly, it can overrule a Marra's effect on a dream. If the subject does not utilize it to their full advantage or holds it back, a Marra can retake control over the dream.

Lucid Dreams can leave a Marra drained and injured if they are overruled often during the dream. But on some occasions, it can yield MUCH more Nightmare Fuel than normal if the Marra wins over. The more evolved a Marra is, the more easily it can counter-overrule lucid dreamers.

* * *

**Previously…**

* * *

After David was kidnapped by the Marra, the Vittra hastily decided to scuttle the tunnels in a desperate attempt to stop them. Frida and co. were lucky to have survived. As for David, he was taken to the site of the vortex to be nightmared one more time before he was sent into the Nightmare Realm.

Unfortunately for Twintail, David found out that he was in a nightmare and went lucid. After a brutal and harrowing battle between him, Twintail, and his insecurities, he woke up and realized the truth about what was happening to the citizens of Trolberg.

Following a massive outburst, his captor Marra had realized what she had done, as well as the true nature of her peers. With this in mind, she took David away so they couldn't harvest any more Nightmare Fuel.

Frida and co. and David met up at the Library to discuss what to do next. They agreed upon the plan they made earlier. To set a trap for Kelly and separate her from her Marra form.

The plan had worked just as it was supposed to, but the victory didn't last long as Twintail appeared behind her and absorbed her Marra half. Twintail's rage, combined with the sudden and forced fusion, made for a deadly combination. She became a mighty beast, the likes of which would scare even a Troll away.

They stood no chance as Raven was mortally wounded and tossed aside with utter ease.

Even Father Darby was at a loss for ideas. Now nothing was stopping Twintail from finishing Johanna, and presumably the rest of them, off. But when all seemed lost, a familiar voice called out...

**And now, the conclusion…**

***The following chapter contains moderate graphic violence. You have been warned.***

* * *

**\- Chapter 13: The Final Requiem (Part 2) -**

**The Library**

**Sundown**

_**"****LEAVE MY MUM ALONE!"**_

The booming voice rang out throughout the entire library. No one dared to say or move a single word or muscle. Not even Twintail, who was still holding Johanna over her maw.

"Nyeh." Twintail eventually shrugged before dropping Johanna.

"AAAHHH!" Johanna screamed as she fell to what seemed to be her inevitable demise. But out of the blue, a bright blue light darted across the room and tackled Johanna out of the air.

"What?!" Twintail grunted as she looked to what had saved Johanna's life.

"No…" Frida breathed.

"It can't be…" David added as he, Frida, and everyone else still standing looked upon the new face in the room. It reminded David and Frida of Craigie and Engilbjort; a ghost.

But… it wasn't a new face at all. In fact, it was someone they both recognized...

_**"****HILDA?!"** _Johanna cried.

Hearing her name, the apparition of the blue-haired girl looked towards her mother.

"...Hi, mum." She said with a wistful smile, placing her hand upon her mother's cheek. The two stared at each other in awe, with a teary-eyed Johanna placing her hand on Hilda's cheek in response. It went through, but it didn't matter.

Her daughter was back. And she loved her just the same.

"No… NO, THIS ISN'T HAPPENING! **YOU DIED! **_**YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!**_" Twintail screeched.

"I am." Hilda replied as she put Johanna down to safety. "But not even death can take me from the ones I love."

"Fine. I'll put you back in your grave myself, and this time, IT'S GOING TO STAY THAT WAY!" Twintail threatened.

"Guys, get out of here! I'll handle this." Hilda instructed her friends and family.

"But what about you?" Johanna cried. "I can't lose you for a third time in a row!"

"I'll be fine, mum. Trust me." Hilda reassured.

"YOU SURE WILL BE!" Twintail screamed. "A FINE DUST!" She then slammed one of her arms at Hilda and Johanna, but Hilda got her out of the way just in time.

"Go! NOW!" Hilda instructed.

The strength of heart to let go of someone a second time, even though they came back because you let them go the first time, was a difficult choice for Johanna to make… but as before, she knew it was the one she _had _to make.

"Alright." Johanna sighed. "Be careful." She runs off with the others, carrying an unconscious Raven.

* * *

**Outside the Library**

David was the last to exit the building, only to notice the others had stopped right in their tracks. Looking onward, he saw why that was.

An entire crowd of Marras had gathered in front of the entrance to the library.

"Oh cruddlesticks…" David cursed.

"GRAB 'EM!" A Marra called out, prompting the rest to advance upon them.

"WAIT!" Kelly said as she and Gretchen stepped out in front. The crowd stopped as they noticed them.

"Kelly? Is that you?" One of them asked. "And… Gretchen?"

"Guys, listen. Twintail's lost her mind!" Kelly explained. "You have to believe me when I say that we're all in danger!"

"She's right." Gretchen joined in. "This may be hard to believe, but she absorbed Kelly's Marra half! I saw her do it!"

"Marra half?" One of them inquired.

"I know, I know. Long story short, they did a sort of ritual thing to try and restore Kelly's humanity. It worked, but Twintail jumped at the chance, fused with the Marra half, and now she's transformed into… well… THAT!" She pointed at the window where the ongoing brawl between Hilda and Twintail was visible.

"OH, GEEZ!" One of the random Marra exclaimed.

"Kelly's purification ritual will be left incomplete while Twintail has her power, and we need it in order to close the vortex." Darby explained.

"And if we don't, the entire city will be sucked into it!" David added.

* * *

Meanwhile inside the Library, Twintail kept trying to swat at Hilda in vain.

"Why… can't… I… TOUCH… _YOU?!_" Twintail yelled in confusion, each miss driving her further and further up the wall.

"Because I have nothing left to fear." Hilda said before dashing toward Twintail and tackling her. "As long as I'm here, my friends and family are safe and sound."

"Underhanded little..."

"Oh, so now you suddenly have standards?" Hilda snarked.

"_**RAAAAAGGH!**_" Twintail roared, alerting everyone outside.

* * *

"Wait a minute. Is that Hanna or whatever her name was? Didn't she die?" A Marra remarked.

"It's my late daughter, Hilda." Johanna explained. "She's come back as a ghost."

"...No way..." The same Marra responded.

"HEY!" Twintail called out to the Marras. "When you're done having this _enthralling_ conversation, would you mind, oh, I don't know, _**TAKING CARE OF THEM?!**_"

"Nyeh, you've gone too far this time." The Marra said, using Twintail's pronunciation of "no" against her. "You're not one of us anymore."

"Seriously? IS THERE ANYONE ELSE PLANNING TO SCREW ME OVER WHO I SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?"

"YOU screwed US ALL over!" Kelly replied.

"Oh, really? Name one example!"

"The Vittra Tunnels." Gretchen responded instantaneously. "Even after everything they did to help, you couldn't care less that they were buried."

"Yep. Totally gone off the deep end." Another Marra remarked.

"Uh...well, you see… it's… LOOK, A FEW PEOPLE YOU PROBABLY HARDLY EVEN KNEW GETTING LOST IN THE CROSSFIRE AIN'T ANYTHING TO CRY OVER!"

"And you dug yourself even deeper." Hilda remarked.

Ignoring Hilda's remark, Twintail continuing in trying to explain her reasoning. "Okay, okay. Getting buried alive might not be what you all had in mind when you signed up for this. But let's try and look at it from a more… uh… logical perspective! They gave themselves for a greater cause! And besides, we can always replace them!"

"_**REPLACE?!**_" All Marras yelled in unison.

"What 'greater cause'?" Hilda inquired.

"...Alright, that wasn't the best choice of words, but-"

"Save it. It's an open-and-shut case." Gretchen interrupted. "We thought all we'd ever do was give people nightmares and collect Nightmare Fuel!"

"In case we haven't made it clear, you've completely lost your marbles." David added.

"And for the record, you're not funny_. _At all. Like, 'Davey Jones'? Are you kidding me?" The same Marra Twintail gave a death stare to added.

At that moment, Twintail started to see red. No matter what she tried to say, her brethren had more or less completely turned against her.

She hardly had anything left to lose… but that didn't mean she couldn't go out taking as many people out along with her.

"Y'know what, Davey? You've made your point. In fact, allow me to personally demonstrate just how much I appreciate it!"

With a loud crash, Twintail burst through the front entrance of the library, sending concrete and glass flying in several directions and knocking over a few of its pillars. Forming one of her arms into a tendril, she wrapped it around David, Frida, and Kelly's mom. She went off with them, but not before issuing a warning to the others and her former cronies.

"Follow me, and I'll tear their heads off!"

"NO!" Darby screamed.

"MOM!" Kelly cried.

An exhausted Hilda emerged from the Library in time to see Twintail making her escape.

"I'm sorry… she was just a bit too strong…" She said.

"It's okay, sweetie. You did everything you could." Johanna comforted, bringing Hilda into an embrace. Twig approached Hilda, but when he tried licking her, he recoiled in shock and began coughing.

"She's headed straight for the vortex!" Gretchen began. "How are we supposed to catch up with her?!"

"I think I know a way." Hilda began. "There's some people I know who could catch her off guard before she reaches it. They're all pretty good at putting up a fight. But we have to act fast… at the rate she's going, I reckon she'll be there soon."

"Wait! Do any of you happen to know where a veterinarian is?" Johanna asked the crowd of Marras.

One of them raised her hand. "My uncle owns an animal clinic. Why do you ask?"

Johanna answered her question by handing the wounded Raven over to her.

Looking at Johanna's pleading expression, the Marra quickly put the pieces together and went off.

* * *

**Trolberg Streets**

"What did I say?! Lost! Her! Marbles!" David exclaimed with emphasis. Twintail ran as fast as her form could take her with him Frida, and Kelly's mom in tow. She could have poofed into Marra dust, but was unable to since she could only warp away with one other person on her.

"_On second thought… maybe I can hand something to those two kids for real. If it weren't for them, those backstabbing sacks of crap wouldn't have showed their true colors. Almost makes me feel bad about up and throwing them all into the Vortex._" Twintail thought to herself. "_Almost."_

But as she ran, she felt something come out of nowhere and hit her lightly on the head. Twintail stopped to look around, only to feel the impactful sensation again.

"What now…" She grumbled. If there was one thing she was really, _really_ getting sick and tired of, it was setbacks.

Extending her neck up to the rooftop, Twintail easily found just who it was. It had been Trevor, who was carrying around a cardboard box full of rather large rocks by his side.

"H-hey, creep!" Trevor called out, quivering. "We're g-getting real tired of you messing with our c-city!" He picked up another rock and prepared to throw it, but stepped back. He dropped it and trembled as Twintail brought her ghastly mug right in front of him.

"Cute effort, kid. Ruh-ruh-really." Twintail said unamused, mocking Trevor's frightened stammering. "Look, I've got somewhere to be, so let's make this quick-"

She was interrupted when she felt something larger and harder than a rock hit her on the back of her head from the opposite direction. Turning her head to the other rooftop, Twintail found a group of civilians, as well as some of the Vittra and the Nisse, holding up an assortment of objects, ranging from trash cans and containers, dirt and mud, steel pipes and even furniture, some of which were carried by more than two people.

"YOU MESS WITH ONE OF US, _YOU MESS WITH ALL OF US!_" A random citizen called out.

More civilians had also came out on Trevor's side, essentially surrounding Twintail. They all proceeded to ruthlessly pelt the queen-sized Marra, ragging on her all the while.

"YOU'RE A TRUE PIECE OF WORK, AREN'T YOU?! THREATENING A CHILD?" Another citizen yelled.

"Why don't you yourself a favor and crawl back to the run-down circus you came from!" A Vittra called out.

"Think you're our worst nightmare? WHY DON'T YOU GET A LOAD OF US?" Tontu said, laughing as he threw to his heart's content.

Putting all their might together, David and Frida's parents, with Ms. Hallgrim's help, pushed an entire couch off the side of the rooftop they were on. It landed directly on top of Twintail's head, dazing her, if only momentarily.

"WHAT IS THIS?!" Twintail said enraged. "URK! That does it!"

She then began to slowly crush her prisoners' necks, prompting the citizens to immediately halt the assault.

"Oh, NOW you stop?" Twintail snarked. "Tough luck. If you thought of that beforehand, maybe you wouldn't have the deaths of these three on your conscience!" The asphyxiation was proving to be too much for her prisoners. David in particular was beginning to turn a light shade of blue.

Johanna and co. arrived on the scene just in time to see this happen. "_Oh god… we're too late..._" She thought.

Twintail cackled as she was about to pop the heads off of her prisoners, but something suddenly grabbed the tendril that held them.

It was a ghost wrestler. "This is where we draw the line!" He said.

"How the-" Twintail began before she began to scream in pain. The ghost began tugging on the tendril with unexpected might. It tore clean off, releasing a torrent of glowing green fluid all over the street. Frida, David, and Kelly's mom were brought gently towards the ground level while catching their breaths.

"Ulch..." Frida muttered queasily as she pulled the still-wiggling tendril off her neck. Kelly had went to help lift the tendril off, hugging her mother tightly afterwards. It then dissolved a large puddle of liquid nightmare fuel.

"DIE!" Twintail screamed, winding up a claw swipe before getting tackled by more ghosts. Frida had noticed that they were being led by a familiar face.

"CRAIGIE WILLIAMS!" She said, overjoyed.

"Hey there, Frida!" Craigie waved. "Excellent news! Hilda's a ghost now!"

"We know!" Frida replied, still overjoyed.

"Get off me you damn dirty-" Twintail growled before the sound of growling was heard from a distance.

All the cheering abruptly ceased.

They looked onward, the form of a giant, beastly-looking wolf with illuminating yellow eyes visible not too far away.

"IT'S THE BLACK HOUND!" Someone screamed, sending everyone else on the rooftops into a panic.

"Seriously?" Craigie groaned, throwing his arms up. "You have a _far _worse thing to fear right now!" He said.

The Hound began to slowly approach, hunched over in a predatory stance.

"Oh, **_hell_** no." Twintail said before quickly getting up. She tried to make a run for it, only aiming to grab David again this time, but felt a sharp tug. The Hound swung her to the back of the street, where she landed with a quake.

"Is EVERYTHING trying to ruin it for me?!" She asked in frustration.

"Now what?" Johanna asked.

"Perhaps if we let them fight it out, she'll be weakened enough for us to separate her from her Marra power safely." Darby explained. "It should be smooth sailing once Gretchen takes it."

"Well, that's the least insane idea I've heard all day." Gretchen said.

The two beasts ran towards each other, with the Hound leaping into the air and landing on Twintail. She was able to kick him off to the side the instant he landed, sending him into a vacant building.

But then she got tackled from behind by the Hound. "What the?!" Twintail cried. "How did you-"

The Hound clawed her in the face, leaving a sizable scratch mark on it before he was pushed off.

As the Hound sunk his teeth around her waist, Twintail wrapped multiple tendrils around him and slammed him hard on the ground. This proved to be a grave mistake, as the Hound bit down on one headed towards his neck and tore it off. While Twintail roared in agony, he repeated the same process on the remaining tendrils, getting himself soaked in green fluid.

The unhinged Marra grew more desperate in her methods. Tackling the hound, she bit down on the upper part of his right leg while he bit down on her left shoulder. The two seemed to hold onto one another before letting go.

Tearing a large chunk of concrete off a building, Twintail swung it towards the side of the Hound's face where it made swift contact, using what was left of it to hit him on the other side, then finally his head before he could make another move.

Not even this seemed to deter the gargantuan canine, at least to any significant degree. While he was limping slightly, the Hound still had a good amount of fight left in him.

"Time to put you down." Twintail said. Forming her hands into hooks, she extended her arms to the top of two rooftops were they gripped upon them tightly. After walking back some distance, she let go, launching herself towards the Hound as he ran towards her.

The subsequent collision stupefied them both, sending them tumbling on the pavement. Luckily for the Hound, it had taken Twintail a little longer to come to. Knowing that the match was becoming more unlikely to end in his favor, he took the opportunity to slip away into the Nowhere Space.

"He disappeared again!" David said.

"Uh, David…" Frida said, she pointed to something. He looked to see Twintail continuing towards the Vortex.

"Come on!" Johanna instructed as they all went to stop her.

"Why is she going to the vortex anyway?" David asked. "She doesn't even have any of us prisoner."

"Not sure. But it could be where we finish this!" Frida replied.

* * *

**Site of the Nightmare Vortex**

**Night**

Unfortunately, Twintail had already beat them to the punch. They arrived in time to see her standing over the Vortex.

"I figured that you'd all come here." Twintail began. "In fact, I actually made a little plan of my own for you."

"You still haven't noticed it, but you're starting to lose it." Kelly replied. "You're running on low fuel. But us, we have reinforcements."

"Oh? And how's that working out for you?"

"Remember the Marras that you left behind in the tunnels?" Gretchen mentioned.

"I'd still like to know why exactly that's my problem."

"That wasn't quite what I was getting at. Just figured you'd be interested in the choice words they have for you."

A dozen streams of green light were sailing through the sky and towards the area.

"The others went back to the tunnels to free them. Heard they're pretty steamed." Gretchen explained with a smirk.

A mere few seconds later, the streams arrive and begin swarming all over Twintail.

"Uh...hey guys! L-let's talk this out-"

"YOU LEFT US FOR DEAD!"

Twintail tried to give one last shot at half-assedly defending herself.

"I-it was an honest mistake on my part! I just assumed-"

"Your first mistake was throwing us out like trash!"

"This was no accident!"

"Hurry, while she's distracted!" Maven prompted Darby under her breath to not alert Twintail. Running into position behind a large bush, they prepared to chant the spell.

As Twintail was swarmed by her enraged brethren, the rest of the Marra came to join in. For every two of four of them she managed to swat away, more of them would just come to take their place. Suddenly, an idea went off in Twintail's head… one that she was initially hesitant to resort to.

"_I could get sucked in if I do…_" She thought. _"...but it's better to go out fighting._"

Plotting to draw fuel from the vortex, Twintail advanced towards it with strengthened resolve, eventually being forced to crawl as the Marras continued to swarm her.

Unbeknownst on her part, Maven and Darby were getting closer and closer to finishing the chanting. If she didn't get there soon, the entire operation would go down in shambles.

Right as Maven and Darby were finishing, Twintail had made it close enough to not get sucked in. Using a good portion of her remaining might, she thrust all of the Marras on top of her off.

But little did she know, Maven and Darby just finished their chanting. And it was at that moment that she felt a severe tugging as Hilda pulled on her back.

"No… not… NOW…" Twintail said, straining and feeling as if she was coming apart.

Hilda's tugging was inadvertently causing Twintail's Marra half to be forced off in the midst of the chanting, and there was nothing the latter could do to stop it.

Twintail's body emerged from its' beastly form, covered in burns and various cuts that bled quite badly.

"Urgh…" She moaned. Looking upwards, she saw the mass in Hilda's grasp.

"H-Hilda! No!" Gretchen screamed.

"GIVE IT BACK!" Twintail screamed and lunged for Hilda, but a large hand grabbed her and pulled her back. It was Engilbjort, with the other ghosts having arrived on the scene.

"Nice try, pigtails, but your luck has run out." She chuckled as her hand began to expand until it covered Twintail's whole body, then she was swiftly dragged into Engilbjort's main body.

"GGAAAHH! LET ME OUT OF HERE!" Twintail screeched impotently. She began pounding on the ghost's body to no avail.

All the while, The convulsing mass had started absorbing itself into Hilda.

"Nraaahhhh!" Hilda yelled as the immense power began to flow into her.

"HILDA!" Johanna screamed.

Hilda's ghostly form was rapidly convulsing and deforming as it was filled with the power of an ascended Marra. Green waves began to visibly surge throughout her as everyone could only look on at the harrowing turn of events. She continued to moan and contort as clouds began to form over the site, and a burst of green thunder came forth from her chest and went straight through the clouds. Hilda descended to the ground, but David had managed to catch her in time.

"Hilda! Are you okay?" David asked.

"I… I'm okay. I'm okay." Hilda answered.

"Y-you absorbed the power of a third grade Marra?" Gretchen gasped.

"I did what?" Hilda inquired, still a bit delirious.

"I thought an evolved Marra was rare enough. But never in recorded history has a Marra of that power ever been seen." Gretchen explained. "And… you absorbed it as a ghost. I… I don't know what to say…"

"Wait. If she absorbed the power… then that means she could be able to close the vortex!" David realized.

"Wasn't that what we planned for me to do?" Gretchen asked.

"Doesn't matter who does it. It's gotta be done." Hilda interrupted.

She looked towards the others. One by one, they all nodded, Johanna being the last to do so.

Hilda prepared to shoot some Nightmare Fuel into the vortex to overload it…

...but as she did so, she noticed that something wasn't right. The stream of energy emitting from her palms was starting to thin out.

"Oh, no… no, no, no!" Hilda exclaimed in a panic.

"What is it, Hilda?" Johanna called.

"That's why it was possible for me to absorb it... Twintail spent too much of its energy on our earlier battles!" Hilda explained. "I won't be able to get enough of it before the vortex sucks the city in! … unless …"

Hilda paused for a moment.

"Unless… I... give someone a nightmare…"

The entire crowd gasped.

"But you don't even-" Gretchen began, but was cut off by David who stepped forward.

"I volunteer."

"David?" Hilda gasped.

"When you were alive, you told me that the best way to overcome my fears is to face them." David explained. "And, I reckon that you know a thing or two about scaring me. Go all out."

"I…" Hilda stammered, put off by how willing her friend was to go through with this. "I don't… I can't…" She sobbed.

"Do it, Hilda." David said as he put his hand on her shoulder, his voice reassuring. "I'll be alright."

Hilda nodded. A tear would have come out of her eye, if any could. Using the force sleep binding ability again would waste too much fuel. But that didn't matter much… perhaps she could use something else.

She wrapped her arms around David, lightly caressing his hair. Anything to get him to relax and fall asleep without having to resort to using the substance that had wrought so much trouble onto them.

* * *

**David's Last Dream**

David woke up once again in his bedroom. As before, it had been dark.

"Are you ready?" Hilda called.

"As ready as I'll ever be." David replied, his eyes going blue. "Wait… oh no! I've gone lucid already!"

"Uh… uh… don't worry. We can still… do this!" Hilda panicked. "Here, uh… how about this?!"

A whole swarm of bugs began infesting the room. Even lucid, David got scared by them. Then a bunch of rats followed.

David knew he shouldn't use his lucid power because he could hurt his friend. He had to suck it up this one time.

His brief reflections were snapped out of when he heard giant footsteps coming from outside.

After going through the door, he found himself in the middle of the wilderness, meeting with a voracious Forest Giant. Before he could run away, he was picked up.

"AAAAH! L-LET GO! PUT ME DOWN!" David screamed.

"You'll make a fine in-between meal snack!" The giant said. "Lucky for you, I'm not quite hungry yet. So you're going into the pantry!"

He threw David out into the horizon, falling onto a Woff on a pod. But his momentum kept him going, causing him to slip off, bounce off another Woff, and fall down into the forest below.

A fall like that could have very easily killed anyone, so he bit the bullet and used lucid power to slow his descent. He knew that dying in a dream would wake him up immediately. Once he landed, he found himself completely lost in the Great Forest.

"_You can handle this, David. Trolberg is counting on you!_" He told himself before he heard a growling sound.

It was a Troll.

"Oh no…" He cried. David was terrified by the sound of approaching footsteps. It was at that moment he knew he had to make a run for it. Maybe he could avoid being see- Nevermind, the eyes of a Troll were leering right at him through the trees.

He took off as fast as he could as the Troll gave chase. But as he looked back at the Troll chasing him, he suddenly crashed into something that felt soft. But had tiny tails.

"Now I've got you!" An eerie voice said. It was the Rat King.

"AAAHHH!" David screamed. He tried pulling away, but he couldn't move unless he used his lucid ability.

"You can't escape us!" The rat king cackled. "In you go!"

"No! LET ME GO!" David cried as he was being pulled into the mass of rats. As his eyes were glued shut, he felt rats crawling all over his body.

"DAVID, I'M SO SORRY! I CAN'T DO THIS TO YOU ANY LONGER!" Hilda interjected, her voice wavering with guilt.

"N-no! Just keep going! Get as much as you ca-aaah!" David cried amidst screaming. He could feel stinging all over his body. He couldn't feel his legs.

Or his arms.

Or the rest of his body.

Only his head.

His scream was muffled when a strong hand grabbed him and pulled him out of the mass. He noticed that everything below his neck had disappeared. It was the Troll who grabbed him!

"Forgive me…" Hilda murmured in a whispered cry.

The Troll roared as it opened its mouth and dropped David's head into it.

"_**AAAAHHH!**_" David screamed one last time as his head slid down into the darkness.

* * *

**Site of the Nightmare Vortex - The Waking World**

**Night**

"_**AAAAHHH!**_" David screamed as he woke up.

Hilda suddenly recoiled and almost seemed to convulse. Having exploited just about every single fear that David always had, she was overflowing with Nightmare Fuel.

"David! Are you okay?!" Hilda cried amidst gasping.

"...Yeah, I think so." David said after he took a few seconds to recollect himself. "Th-thank you, Hilda."

Hilda was taken aback by what David just said. It took her a few seconds to respond.

"Good. BUT NEVER LET ME DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN!" She said in a scolding tone right before hugging her friend tightly. They were soon joined by Frida, then Johanna, then Twig.

"Uh, guys?" Maven reminded them.

"Right." Hilda replied. "Everyone… you might want to stand back."

Twintail was pounding even harder now, but it still had no effect whatsoever on Engilbjort.

"Nyeh, quit your pounding, loser." The ghost mocked.

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" Twintail retorted in a manner not unlike a spoiled five year old.

Hilda approached the vortex once more, being careful not to get close enough to be sucked into it. "This should be plenty..." she said, right before she began to channel all of the fuel she had into the vortex.

The beam was WAY stronger than it had been mere moments ago. Everyone took cover as the winds blew harder. Then…

_***BOOOOOM!***_

After an explosive flash of green light that enveloped the whole vicinity, everyone looked to see if it had worked.

It did.

The Vortex had finally been destroyed. A smoldering crater was left where it once stood.

Back at the city, all of the creatures had evaporated one by one. The only thing keeping them alive in the human world had been their link to the Vortex, and now that it was destroyed, their bodies were no longer able to sustain themselves.

"NOOOOO!" Twintail screamed.

"What are you screaming about? You're no Marra anymore." Frida laughed.

"YOU LITTLE PRICKS! I'LL GET _**MY**_ POWER BACK AND FINISH WHAT I STARTED!" Twintail yelled petulantly, still pounding on Engilbjort.

"Now, now! You wouldn't want your folks catching you with such a filthy mouth." David quipped.

"_**[EXPLETIVE REDACTED]**_ _**YOU!**_" Twintail screeched back.

"Should I release her?" Engilbjort asked.

"Not yet." Darby replied. "At least, not until we finish the ritual."

Aware of what Darby was referring to, Kelly stepped forth.

Once the ritual was complete, Hilda felt what little Nightmare Fuel was left within her dissolve and fade into nothingness. "It's gone." Hilda said. "The Marra power… is… gone…" Hilda suddenly fell out of the air and into Johanna's arms, unconscious.

"YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!" Twintail screamed.

"Is she okay?" Frida asked, concerned.

"...I don't know… having to release that much Nightmare Fuel must have took a lot out of her." Maven explained.

"Hilda… it's alright. You did it." Johanna sobbed.

The apparition of the blue-haired girl weakly opened her eyes. She was fine, albeit immensely exhausted.

"Y… yeah. I guess I did." She breathed.

"You really are exceptional, Hilda." Frida said happily.

"Just… need to rest for a while…." She sighed as she fell asleep.

"You need to bring her to her grave for her to rest her soul." Craigie instructed. Johanna nodded solemnly.

"Let's go." She says as they all started walking to the graveyard.

* * *

**Trolberg Correctional Facility**

**Early Morning**

Twintail was brought in an hour or so following the closure of the Vortex, and had been waiting in the cell she was put away in since.

She had lost everything. Her powers, her followers, the vortex, even her pride had been dampened significantly. And unlike the rest, there was no chance she was ever getting it all back, not even in a lesser form. All she could do was sit there, the impact of her defeat settling into her misshapen psyche.

"Well… it looks like I got someone to keep me company." A voice said.

Twintail turned around to find an elderly woman with frazzled grey hair in the back. Twintail was so focused on banging on the bars that she didn't notice her in all the time she spent so far.

Her cellmate stepped forth towards the light, revealing herself as Victoria Van Gale.

"Fantastic." Twintail groaned. "Another one of you old farts."

"And here I thought I was the worst person in here." Victoria replied.

"Twintail," A guard called.

"Urgh… what is it now?"

"You've got a visitor." Twintail's guard informed her.

* * *

She was taken away to a phone booth, and seconds later, she was greeted with the sight of none other than Father Darby.

"Why am I not surprised." Twintail groaned as she sat down and picked up the phone.

"But of course." Darby replied. "I'm not angry with you. … Well, I wasn't quite honest with myself there. I AM angry. Livid, in fact. But not as much as I'm disappointed in you."

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all already. Look, we both know there's no way they'll keep me locked in here. After all… juveniles get special treatment." The former ringleader of the Marra bragged, some aloof spirit still left in her.

"You would be correct. I've worked in helping many of your converts in the past at my church, and we have entire establishments dedicated to treating troubled youths such as yourself. But that's not where you're going."

"...huh?"

"Believe me. I could have and would have tried either of the former two if they were going to do any good. I sincerely believed that no matter what, anyone, even individuals such as yourself could have a change of heart." Darby explained. "But maybe what we did to help wasn't enough. The problems you have are ones that I simply cannot fix on my own, which is why I've made arrangements with the city council to have you transferred far from the city and to a high-security institution."

"WHAT?!"

"It'll be awhile before the transfer itself takes place, but they're aiming to have you in before the end of the year. They'll be expecting you."

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"

Darby put down the phone and walked away, the sound of Twintail pounding on the glass and being forcefully restrained by guards accompanying him even as he got further and further away.

"THIS ISN'T OVER, YOU GERIATRIC MOTHER_**[EXPLETIVE REDACTED]**_! I'LL GET YOU BACK FOR THIS! I'LL GET DAVID AND FRIDA AND THAT STUPID FRIEND OF THEIRS, TOO! I'LL GET KELLY! _**I'LL GET ALL OF YOU!**_" Twintail screamed bloody murder, practically frothing at the mouth.

"_It'll take some time…_" Darby muttered to himself. As he exited, Twintail's tantrum regressed to the point where she was completely incomprehensible. She had sounded more akin to a feral animal than she did a teenage girl.

"_If anything __**does**__ come of it, that is…_"

* * *

**One Week Later**

**Night**

In the days following the attack, it was clear that there would be a good long ways to go before everyday life (or at least, as everyday it could be) would be able to completely return in working order.

Raven at least was in good shape after his visit to the vet, and he would be flying again in about a month or two. His shapeshifting abilities, on the other hand, were less likely to function properly for a while, but he was glad to be alive nonetheless. He would be staying over at David's until then.

On this night, Johanna, Frida, David, Alfur, Twig, and Raven were making their way towards the cemetery. With Hilda having enough time to rest after all of this, they were more than eager to see her again.

* * *

**St. Guglows Cemetery**

"'Deep in the earth your moldering bones for posterity lay, but on this night, they stir and moan when you come out to play.'" Frida recited as David rolled the rod upon Hilda's grave.

After Frida finished reciting the passage, the rod began floating.

"It's working!" David cried.

The rod dropped to the ground, and shortly afterwards, the ghost of Hilda emerged.

"Hi, mum." Hilda waved.

"Hi, Hilda…" Johanna crouched by her daughter.

"Look… I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long." Hilda apologized. "I needed to rest my soul for a while after all that action. *_sigh_* It sure sucks being dead…"

"Well, at least we'd all rather have this over nothing." Johanna replied. "You were always the kindest, bravest, most selfless girl it is possible to be."

Something came up in Johanna's head. Maybe she could go back to the House of Want without David or Frida and stay there with her daughter for the rest of her life.

But then she remembered that Hilda would still want to see her friends. So, for her daughter's sake, she decided to put her feelings aside and stay in the city.

"How are the other Marras doing?" Hilda asked.

"It's… been complicated." Frida began. "The city council isn't thoroughly laying down the law on them since it was agreed they were all victims of manipulation, but they aren't too willing to forget about their part in the attack so soon. From what Kelly's told me, they're planning some sort of reform program." She explained.

"Gretchen's been staying at my house. She doesn't feel too comfortable being at her own, and thinks that she has a lot to make up for." David added.

"I guess that's alright. What about Father Darby and the Librarian?" Hilda replied.

"We're getting back to business as usual." Darby replied, surprising everyone with his sudden appearance. "I should expect a few more ex-Marras to come in tomorrow. But, other than that, it's all over." He then started back into the church.

"You can call her Maven, and...well, she's been going through a bit at the moment. There was a lot of damage caused to the library, and she's been trying to get the money to have it repaired." Darby continued. "I've been lending her a hand with that."

"We've been seeing each other more as well." Johanna added.

"She's who you needed in a time like this." Darby replied. "I wish you all good fortune from here on out. Farewell." He bid as he went into the church and closed the doors.

Johanna, Alfur, Twig, and Raven spent the rest of the night with Hilda. Frida and David would have stayed a little longer, but they knew that after everything that transpired, their parents wouldn't be too keen towards the idea of them being out late.

* * *

**Sunrise**

"Alright, guys. It was great being with you." Hilda reminded them. "But I gotta go now. The sun is coming up."

Johanna tilted her head down.

"Don't worry, mum. I promise you I'll come over tomorrow night, and every night after." Hilda promised. "Every night."

"Okay… bye, Hilda."

"Take care of yourself and the others. And… get some sleep, mum." Hilda pointed as she prepared to sink back into her grave. "You look really tired." Once she finished talking, she dropped into her grave seconds before the sun shone past the mountains.

"You know… I'm glad I came back." Raven said. He didn't seem too bothered by the fact that he nearly died, if only for the fact that he was finally able to see his friend again.

"At least I have her back in some form…" Johanna breathed. "I think it's time we all went home and got some rest ourselves."

"Indeed…" Alfur responded before he and Twig yawned.

As they began to walk back home, a hopeful smile appeared on Johanna's face.

Whatever life had in store for them next, how they'd face them would define who they are now. Especially since there are a few loose ends for them to tie up, like, how would they solve the Nisse crisis? And how will they solve the mystery of the Black Hound? Of course, they were already one step into the latter. A fairly small step, but still. How they _would_ continue was up to them.

But until then…

* * *

_If we hold on together_

_I know our dreams will never die_

_Dreams see us through to forever_

_As high as souls can fly_

_The clouds roll by_

_For you and I_

**THE END**

**Story Concept by jdubbam**

**Written by jdubbam, Newgame+LD, Miss Lovelin, Grepa, and DiscordedEdd **

**Special Thanks: D.D. Danger, FusionBlueCore**

**Inspired by "Remorse of an Adventurer" by D.D. Danger**

**Based on "Hilda" by Luke Pearson**

"**If We Hold On Together" Performed by Diana Ross**


	15. Epilogue: Such Is The Life

**\- Epilogue: Such Is The Life -**

**Frida's House**

**Morning**

A few days ago, Johanna had decided to go to rehab, overdue as she was. Meanwhile, Alfur and Twig stayed over at David's House for the time being. They slept surprisingly silently every night considering everything they had gone through.

The following days consisted of David, Frida, and Alfur trying to figure out what the Black Hound was doing in Trolberg.

On this morning, David, Alfur, and Twig had arrived on to Frida's doorstep to discuss what they were gonna do next. With their current results unfortunately remaining inconclusive, there wasn't a lot for them to go off of, especially with the city being more focused on recovery from the attack.

David rang the doorbell and waited for Frida to arrive, but something drew his attention on a Tree close nearby.

It was a Nisse - one who was wearing an orange sweater much like his, lying on a branch. He wasn't sure what one of them was still doing out here. Granted, the citizens were still hesitant to let them back in, but after the role they had played in taking back the city, they did gain a reward in having shelters built for them. But in the middle of his thoughts, Frida answered the door.

"Morning, David."

"Hey, Frida. You been able to figure out anything?"

"No…" Frida answered sadly. "Hilda would've gotten something by now, but we need to let her rest."

"Maybe we're just thinking too much about how _she_ would have done it." David suggested.

As the kids continued their discussion, the Nisse in the tree branch was finding it harder to rest. Eventually, he had awaken.

"Do you guys mind?" He asked.

"Who are y- Wait, I thought I saw you when we were dealing with that nightmare monster." David pointed.

"You must be thinking of someone else." The Nisse replied.

"What exactly are you?" Frida asked.

"*sigh* If I tell you, will you leave me alone?" The Nisse asked.

"We didn't mean to bother you, but, yeah. Go ahead." David said.

Taking a deep breath, the Nisse relayed everything.

"In every home, there's a lot of wasted space. The space behind bookcases, gaps in the floorboards, the tops of cupboards you can't quite see, that kind of thing. In everyone's house, the subtotal of that space manifests itself as a kind of extra room - one that only a Nisse, like myself, can enter."

"A Nisse?" David inquired.

"I take it you've never heard of us?" Tontu asked.

"Well, none of us have, actually." Alfur responded.

"Uh...who said that?" Tontu said, looking around in confusion.

"Oh, that's just Alfur the Elf. He's a friend of ours." Frida explained.

"You should _really _sign the paperwork." David added.

"Getting back to the point, what are you doing outside your nest?" Frida asked.

"The owner of a house has the ability to banish a Nisse from their property forever if they catch them doing no good."

"What'd you do?" Alfur asked.

"_NOTHING! _I was wrongly accused…" Tontu responded as he started to walk down the sidewalk with the others following him.

"I find that hard to believe." Alfur pondered.

"Wait a minute." David began putting the pieces together. "Did you see what the Black Hound did on that night? It just vanished into a wall while fighting Twintail."

"I wasn't thinking about it considering what was going on, but yeah." Tontu responded.

"...what are the chances of it being capable of the same thing that you are?" Frida asked.

"Oh gee… this changes everything." Tontu commented.

* * *

**Hilda's Grave**

**Night**

David and Frida didn't want to bother her at this time, but they felt like they had no one else to turn to. But before they could recite the passage again, her ghost immediately rose from the ground, startling Tontu.

"Mother of…" Tontu said in between breaths.

"Hilda? But...we didn't even recite the passage." Frida said.

"Do you need something?" Hilda asked.

"Well, uh… we don't mean to bother you-"

"No no no! It's alright, guys." Hilda interrupted. "I'm always happy to help you with whatever needs doing. Even if I'm not, well, immediately accessible. It's… actually gotten quite lonely here with mum in rehab and all that."

"Maybe you could still visit her? I take it she might be feeling the same." Frida suggested.

"Thing is… I don't know which room she was taken to, and I don't want to cause an uproar or interrupt whatever procedures they must undertake."

"Can we _please_ address the elephant in the room?" Tontu interjected.

"Right… Hilda, do you happen to know anything about the Black Hound?" David asked.

"Well, before I died, I remember hearing bits and pieces about it on the radio." She began. "I heard a little more on the TV, but not much. The storm messed up the connection before I could hear a lot, but I saw what it did."

"Did you remember it disappearing the night we destroyed the vortex?" Frida inquired.

"Yeah, that's what I meant." Hilda answered.

"We think we might have found a breakthrough. This Nisse, Tontu, is capable of the same kind of thing. It actually leads to a hidden room inside a building." David explained. "We've got a hunch that might help us get to the bottom of all this."

"We gotta start somewhere." Hilda suggested. "What if we checked my house? To be honest, I couldn't bear to know that there wasn't a room in my house that I'd never seen."

"I suppose that's a good place to start." Frida agreed.

* * *

**Johanna's House**

**Night**

"That's certainly one way to go places." Tontu got up, shaking off residual corpse frost.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Hilda said with a light chuckle. "I… didn't even think I could do that."

"Now... " Alfur began, squeezing leftover ghost material out of his hair. "Where's a good place to enter?"

"Behind this bookcase, perhaps?" Tontu said.

"Is it okay if we come, too?" David asked.

"Okay, fine… just take my hand." Pointing to Frida, Tontu then proceeded to give out instructions. "Everyone, basically, join in a chain if you all want to come along."

After they all joined hands, the group was already to travel. "Okay, so how exactly does this wor-_AAAAAAAHH!_"

Frida wasn't able to finish her question as Tontu leapt into the bookcase, dragging everyone with him.

* * *

**The Nowhere Space - Johanna's House**

Everyone tumbled through the entrance of the Nowhere Space. They would have landed in a heap if it weren't for a strange lump in the surface scattering them all.

"Whoa…" Hilda said in amazement.

"What are all these holes?" Frida asked, noticing an assortment of them.

"They're entrances, or exits, to all the nooks and crannies of your home." Tontu explained.

Looking through one of the holes, David saw the bookcase they had all traveled through.

"So everything that gets lost into or forced into the back of something ends up here?" He asked.

"That's the long and short of it!" Tontu responded chipperly.

"...this is a lot to take in." David said.

"Mum's old flashlight!" Hilda interjected as she found a flashlight in the mess. "And my science homework! N-not that I need it anymore… or… ever needed it to begin with."

"And… that doesn't explain how an ARMCHAIR ended up here." David continued as he sat down on it.

"Things left unused or unloved for long enough have been known to be mistaken for offerings. My guess is that that armchair is from the previous tenants of this flat." Tontu explained. "Believe it or not, there was a time when we Nisse were rewarded-"

He was cut off by the sound of something eating a discarded bag of Jorts in the distance.

"Hey, Tontu, are these guys Nisse too? They look just like you." David said as he pulled pulled out a picture close by. "...Tontu?"

Everyone looked to see the creature in the distance as it revealed itself to be another Nisse. This one seemed to be completely bald, save for a tuft of fur on its' tail.

"I should have told you there'd be someone here already…" Tontu said sheepishly. "And that Nisses are typically pretty territorial."

"Hey! Those are my clothes! Well… not that I'll ever need them again, but still!" Hilda called out.

The other Nisse lunged at Tontu, tackling him through one of the holes and out of the Nowhere Space, Hilda following suit.

"Hilda!" David yelled before getting Frida, Alfur, and Twig out of there carefully.

* * *

**Johanna's House**

**Night**

Tontu and the other Nisse tumbled out a bookshelf near the couch, knocking some books into a heap on the floor. They fell on said couch and began to fight. Tontu jumped between the cushions as Hilda flew out the bookshelf.

The house Nisse threw a cushion away to find Tontu, only to find that he was gone. But Hilda caught the cushion out of the air so it wouldn't collide with anything just before the Nisse threw the other cushion. Hilda promptly blocked it with the cushion she had on hand.

Tontu emerged from behind a hung up picture of some leaves before being spotted by the tenant Nisse.

"No, no no!" Hilda cried as the tenant Nisse lunged for the photo and was about to do some damage. She used the cushion as a shield as the photo flew towards her way, keeping from being broken. Tontu emerged from the photo carefully and ran just as David and co. emerged from behind a dresser.

The other Nisse was about to follow Tontu before Hilda grabbed him. As the Nisse struggled in Hilda's grip, she closed her arms around the house spirit tightly. _Really_ tightly.

The house spirit let out a scream as it began to sink into Hilda's body. Eventually, her arms didn't have as much strength as the Nisse sank in, but that didn't exactly matter considering that it couldn't get a good grip on anything before it was fully absorbed inside Ghost Hilda's body. "Gotcha!" Hilda interjected triumphantly.

"I guess being a ghost has its perks." Tontu commented.

"You can say that again." Hilda responded in relief. The Nisse was flailing wildly inside Hilda, but the movements were completely ineffectual. "I'm guessing this is my Nisse?"

"Most likely." Tontu began.

"LET ME OUT!" Hilda's Nisse screamed, but the voice was muffled.

"As a former resident of this house, I will not." Hilda replied in an authoritative tone.

"If I may ask, what's your deal anyway?" Alfur asked.

"Nothing YOU should be concerned about, that's what!" Hilda's Nisse snapped back.

"Do you know about the Black Hound? I think it's a Barghest." Alfur explained.

This seemed to strike a chord with the Nisse, though it didn't seem to change its disposition. A small shake was felt throughout the house, startling everyone.

"What on earth?!" Frida exclaimed.

Tontu darted for a bookcase and vanished into it. Moments later, he jumped right back out in a state of severe panic.

"It's there! IT'S THERE!" Tontu cried. "We gotta go, it's not safe here, oh I knew this was a bad idea from the start!"

"Tontu! Tontu, calm down!" David said. "What did you see in there?"

"THE BLACK HOUND! I don't know how it got here, BUT IT'S HERE!" He responded.

"We need to stop it somehow!" Hilda suggested. "This could be our chance."

Before they could go, they heard the sound of a door opening. It was Johanna, who had arrived back after a few days.

"Hilda? What are you doing here?" Johanna said in surprise before noticing everyone else. She was about to ask what they were doing at her house as well before recognizing one of them.

"Wait, is that a Nisse?!" She inquired.

"There's no time to explain!" Tontu said hastily. "Follow us!"

* * *

**The Nowhere Space - Johanna's House**

Tontu dropped into the Nowhere Space just in time to witness the Black Hound escaping through an exit. "It went through there!" He pointed.

"Wait, what exactly are we chasing?!" Johanna cried.

"The Black Hound!" Hilda replied.

"WHY ARE WE CHASING THAT OF ALL THINGS?! SHOULDN'T WE BE GETTING AWAY FROM IT?!" Johanna asked loudly. Needless to say, this was _not _what she wanted to come back home to.

"We're so close to discovering its secret! We know it has the same power as a Nisse." Hilda explained. "C'mon! We can't let it get away!"

* * *

**Frida's House**

**Night**

The chase led them through a bunch of houses. It was still pretty early in the night that some people were still awake. Hilda had apologized to everyone who fell victim to the chaos passing by. But they suddenly found themselves emerging from underneath a dresser in Frida's bedroom. It was slightly torn up by the Black Hound passing through, but nothing a little cleanup could take care of.

"It went through there! HURRY!" Tontu gestured.

* * *

**The Nowhere Space - Frida's House**

They tumbled down a shaft of Nowhere Space, but Frida was quick to notice something surprising.

"Wait… MY BOOK!" She cried. "It's been here all this time!" As much as old wounds were reopened, and she was ready to let out multiple curses at her friends, she realized that there was no way anyone of them could've known, and they'd never would've known about the ghosts to see Hilda again.

"Sorry, I didn't know." A tiny Nisse said. Now, this one was the one responsible for the whole thing. Frida grabbed the tiny house spirit in her hand and decided that it was only fair that…

* * *

**Frida's House**

**Night**

… she'd throw the little thing out of the house, never to belong there ever again.

"YOU STARTED ALL OF THIS! I DON'T CARE THAT YOU DIDN'T MEAN TO! YOU'RE PRACTICALLY THE REASON MY FRIEND _**DIED!**_"

Learning this, Frida couldn't bring herself to keep going tonight. She could only hope her friends would be able to finish the job.

* * *

**The Nowhere Space - Frida's House**

"Wait, where's Frida?" David asked.

"You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up." Hilda said as she turned back to Frida's room only to find…

* * *

**Frida's House**

**Night**

...Frida, who buried her face in her bed pillow. She was also wearing her PJs.

"F-Frida?" Hilda began.

"None of it was your fault." Frida murmured in her pillow. "It was my Nisse. If it weren't for him…"

Hilda looked down, then moved to comfort Frida.

"Just go on without me… I can't continue tonight. I'm sorry." Frida continued.

Understanding that her friend needed to be alone, Hilda nodded and pulled the covers over her.

* * *

**Trolberg Streets**

**Night**

The others emerged from a house, noticing that there was a wide opening. But only so wide that the Black Hound was gonna vanish into another building any second.

"An opening!" Tontu pointed.

"Only until he reaches the next building!" Alfur cautioned them.

"Come on, Hilda!" Johanna groaned. "Don't be late!"

The Black Hound was so close to vanishing through the building, but was suddenly stopped by Ghost Hilda, who rushed past everyone and flew right in front of the hound. "Halt!" Hilda yelled. "This area is off-limits!"

Hilda expected the Black Hound to try to ram past her, but it didn't. It was suddenly staring at the Nisse that was trapped inside Hilda. It also wasn't looking quite as menacing. In fact, it tilted its head to the side.

"Wh-what's going on?" David asked.

"I… I'm not sure." Hilda answered.

"Wait… let me out!" The Nisse said.

"But-"

"_JUST DO IT!_" The Nisse demanded.

"Okay…" Hilda hesitantly let the Nisse out, the latter shaking off some corpse frost.

The Black Hound looked upon the Nisse curiously, before suddenly giving it a huge lick. And just like that, its eyes stopped glowing. This surprised the Nisse, who now knew everything.

"...Jellybean?"

The Nisse slowly rested their hand upon the hound's nose, causing it to begin panting like a dog.

"JELLYBEAN!" The Nisse cried before jumping and giving the big dog a hug. "It's you!"

"Jellybean?!" Everyone inquired in surprise.

"This is my dog! I haven't seen him since he was a puppy." The Nisse responded, and proceeded to explain their backstory together.

"But, isn't he dangerous?" Johanna inquired. "From what I've heard, he's eaten no less than three people."

"Hold on…" The Nisse hopped down and whispered something in Jellybean's ear. In response, the dog gagged and regurgitated three people. They all proceeded to run away screaming.

"Wait… I think I get it now!" David began. "You said you taught him how to use Nowhere Spaces when he was a puppy, right?"

"Indeed."

"That's how he did what we witnessed that night." David continued. "It could be what happened to you when you were kicked out of your own house. It's the only explanation that makes sense!"

"Wouldn't I have seen him if he did?" Tontu inquired.

"Probably not. Especially with that haircut of yours." Johanna remarked.

They all laughed it out, but something wasn't right. David could hear something in the distance. "G-guys? Do you hear that?"

"What's that?" Hilda asked, hearing the sound of Police Sirens.

"It's the Trolberg Safety Patrol." Johanna answered. "They might be here any minute."

"We need to get him out of the city." Hilda instructed. "We'll only cause even more of an uproar if we use the Nowhere Spaces."

"But, I don't have a car!" Johanna chimed in.

"I got it! Everybody, get on!" The Nisse called out.

"But-" Johanna began, but was interrupted.

"There's no time! Just get on!" The Nisse interrupted. "You, the ghost. Lead the way!"

"It's Hilda, and sure thing!" Hilda said as everyone else climbed on top of Jellybean.

"Jellybean, follow the ghost!" The Nisse instructed to her dog. "Everyone else… hold on."

On the Nisse's words, Jellybean began to run.

"How far are the city walls? If we can get him outside, maybe they'll let him go!" David asked.

"They're not too far away. We gotta get there before they overtake us!" Hilda responded as the flashing red and blue lights became visible.

"Where's Frida anyway?" David asked.

"She isn't feeling up to continuing tonight." Hilda explained. "She said that her Nisse was to blame for all this."

"Her book was in the Nowhere Space the _entire time_?!" David cried.

"THAT got you killed?!" Tontu shouted in shock.

"Well, I'm not sure if our argument was a factor or not." Hilda explained. "I don't blame her for it at all, though. None of us know for sure if things could have turned out differently."

"I see the gates! We're almost there!" Hilda said.

"They're gaining on us!" Johanna cried as nets were being shot from the cars right behind them. Most of them missed, but one hit its mark, causing Jellybean to tumble. Everyone riding on top were caught in the net.

"Oh no!" Hilda cried.

The cars formed a circle around Jellybean and the others, surrounding them all.

"Can't you do that teleportation thing again?!" David asked frantically.

"I could, if we had anything to work with!" Tontu answered.

"Wait… where did Hilda go?" Johanna asked.

All of a sudden, things were starting to feel a little heavier. The buildings around them were suddenly rushing below them. Within seconds, they were pretty high above the cars, seeing the troops below looking dumbfounded. But they began to hear the sound of someone straining below them.

It was Hilda! She had lifted them all off the ground, which obviously put quite a lot of physical stress on her.

"HILDA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Johanna screamed.

"No… other… way…" Hilda grunted.

* * *

**Trolberg Wall - Outside**

**Night**

Using all of her strength, Hilda managed to clear the wall. But unfortunately for the bunch, that was her limit. Her arms gave way, causing everyone to begin to fall down to the ground below.

"BRACE YOURSELVES!" Jellybean's owner screamed.

Thankfully, Jellybean was able to take most of the impact landing on his legs.

As soon as she could, Johanna dropped from Jellybean's back to find Hilda flopped on the ground, totally unresponsive.

"Hilda!" She called. "Are you okay?"

But there was no response. She ran to her daughter and tried to shake her awake.

"Hilda… please…"

Still there was no response… until… she began to hear a strange sound.

Was it…

Laughing?

It turned out Hilda was starting to giggle. She was otherwise fine, albeit _immensely _exhausted. You could tell it in her voice.

"W… we did it!" Hilda giggled sheepishly. "_WE DID IT!_" She suddenly hugged her mum tightly as she kept giggling triumphantly.

Johanna needed a few seconds to process everything, but soon afterwards, she gave a light smile of relief.

She could never put it past her daughter to achieve the impossible.

Unfortunately, the mood was cut off when they all heard sirens approaching. The Safety Patrol had finally caught up with them.

"...We're going to have an awful lot to explain." Alfur said warily.

"Please, you need to listen to us!" Johanna began. "He won't cause any more trouble in the city from now on. He doesn't even have a reason to come back now."

Jellybean's owner hopped down to back Johanna's case. "She's right. He's not even that ferocious, he's just been lost and alone all this time! I'd know because I'm his owner!"

"Just let him go. What good will locking it up even do?" Hilda added.

At first, the Safety Patrol was a bit unsure of whether to believe them. The Nisse had something of a reputation for supposedly manipulating others into feeling sorry for them, only to cause trouble the instant their backs were turned.

But it would probably be a mistake not to give them a chance.

"Very well. But if we catch the Black Hound terrorizing our city again, you can kiss your puppy goodbye." The leader, Erik Ahlberg replied before gesturing the other cops back into their cars.

"So, what'll you do now?" Hilda asked.

"I think it's time Jellybean and I gave the whole 'city life' thing a rest." Jellybean's Nisse answered. "We're heading out into the wilderness. We'll make sure to drop by now and again, though."

"But… what about the house? There's no more Nisse there." Tontu asked.

"You can have it." Jellybean's Nisse replied. "I myself already have everything." She said shortly before departing with Jellybean.

"Y-you will let me stay, right?" Tontu asked Johanna.

Johanna couldn't see it in his face, but the pleading tone in his voice was quite clear. She answered by scooping him up in her arms and gently stroking his hair. He'd be the company she'd so desperately need during these lonely days.

"Oh,_ thank you!_" Tontu said estactically.

"Alright, it's time we all head home. First, Hilda, then us." Johanna instructed. She would've thought about asking the Trolberg Safety Patrol for transport, but they were long gone. It was decided that they'd have to walk it. Hopefully, they would be able to get to the cemetery before sunrise.

* * *

**St. Guglows Cemetery**

**Sunrise**

David had already gone home, but as for Johanna, she had to bring Hilda back to her grave before the sun shone past the mountains. _Seeing _sunlight reflecting off the backsides of other mountains was a sign of immediate danger.

Hilda and her mother had no idea what would happen if a ghost was exposed to sunlight, and given how severely it was taken amongst the ghosts, neither of them wanted to find out.

They arrived at Hilda's grave just as the sun began to rise completely. With no time for a wordy goodbye, Johanna and Hilda shared a brief but weighty hug before the latter quickly retired into her grave.

* * *

**Johanna's House**

**Early Morning**

With everything said and done, everyone had gone home as the daybreak sun shone over them.

Johanna, Tontu, Twig, and Alfur all fell asleep in each other's arms.

After a good rest, Johanna had dusted out Hilda's old room and basically turned it into a sort of museum filled with all the photos of Hilda she had, whether they were during adventures, or with her friends and family. The final destination for Hilda's old sketchbook would be her bed.

Johanna gave a warm and hopeful smile as she closed the door. With her daughter now a ghost, she felt like she no longer had to worry whenever Hilda wanted to go out into the wild.

Though the hole inside her still could never be filled completely, she'd settle for this than be completely empty. And she'd at least have someone to talk to, to keep her company, and to hug by daylight.

And all the others would be by her side until her own story ends.

* * *

**The Outside World - Institute for the Criminally Insane**

**Three Months Later**

**Evening**

"Let's begin with a simple query. What is your name?" A man in a brown suit wearing square glasses and a red necktie asked. He was a member of the institute's staff, a psychiatrist known as Dr. Jansen.

"Here's a query for you: How's it feel knowing _this_ is what all that time in college was able to produce?" Twintail snapped back.

"Interesting name." Jansen snarked. "I was informed of your… atypical attitude prior to this session. But I must remind you as your psychiatrist, it's my duty to learn the roots of this attitude." He didn't seem too bothered that Twintail's eyes were directed towards the left side of the room, motioning her right hand similarly to a puppet as he spoke, clearly mocking him.

"Moving on, is there anything in particular that you want to say about yourself? More specifically, your formative years?" Jansen asked.

"...My what now?" Twintail responded in confusion.

"It's a term used to refer to one's early childhood." Jansen explained.

Twintail was silent for a bit before her face began to waver slightly.

"I've… actually never told anyone... but why do you care anyway?" She scoffed.

"I care because in spite of everything you've done, there are people who genuinely want to help you, myself included. I believe there must be some deep-seated matters regarding yourself for you to have ended up like this. "

Twintail looked at Jansen, and quickly figured out that he was absolutely, undoubtedly determined to get something out of her. She seemed almost hesitant to do so - modest, even.

Taking a deep breath, she decided to relay her life story.

"When I was little… my mom and dad never really bothered to pay that much attention to me." She began. "Not that it stopped me from trying. Of course, given the fact that _nothing _was ever good or interesting enough for those two, that never worked out for me."

"I see. Is there anything else in particular that you remember about your parents?"

"Well, whenever I set them off, I _really _set them off. Dad was usually the one to lay a hand on me. Mom was more keen to words, though she did get physical every once in a while."

Jansen nodded as he wrote in a notepad. "Have you ever considered them a crucial factor in how you become what you are today?"

"...Sometimes, yeah."

Jansen proceeded to jot this down as well. However, in the middle of the sentence he was writing, he began to feel as if it was getting more difficult to breathe. Then he erupted into a sudden and violent coughing fit, much to Twintail's surprise.

"What's wrong with you?" The former Marra asked in a tone that was very unlike how she usually was. It was if she actually seemed... _concerned._

"Inhaler...room...next to us..." Jansen said between a routine of gasping breaths. "Get it..."

Twintail was flabbergasted. This was a man who, being left with no other choice, was placing his life in the hands of _her _\- someone whose actions he was made well aware of beforehand. Thinking back to what Darby said at the phone booth, she pulled something out of her shirt.

It was the exact same inhaler that Jansen was talking about. Prior to the session, she had managed to sneak around (a feat that was none too easy in this environment, especially without her powers) and swipe it unbeknownst.

"This right here?" She asked in a concerned-sounding voice.

"Yes...please..." Jansen replied as he collapsed, not caring what it was doing with Twintail.

Twintail jumped off her seat and went to the man's aid. She lent the hand the inhaler was in towards his, and Jansen grabbed it.

...or at least he would have, had Twintail not dropped it on the floor and in front of his face.

Before he could grab it, Twintail placed her foot on the bronchodilator and began to press down on it. The pressure of the weight proved to be enough to snap it in two.

"Wh… why..." Jansen wheezed.

Twintail leaned down over her psychiatrist, Jansen hardly able to make her out in the midst of his ongoing attack.

"Hey." She began. "About that story of mine… I lied."

"GET HER!"

Additional staff came out of nowhere and began to pile on Twintail. Oddly enough, she didn't try to put up much of a fight. She only watched as other members of the staff went to try and help Jansen, who was still gasping violently for breath.

"Put her in solitary." A staff member instructed.

"Nothing but a scourge, that's what you are..." One of the staff dragging Twintail away said.

"I know." The former Marra replied in a whispered laugh.

"_It would appear that she's learned nothing…"_

* * *

**The Wilderness - Hilda's Old House (Ruins)**

In their adventures outside the city walls, Jellybean and his Nisse happened upon the ruins of Hilda's old house. Wood Man was there too, his burn marks from the House of Want ordeal still intact.

"What happened?" Jellybean's Nisse asked.

"This once was a cozy little house." Wood Man began in a somber but modest tone. "The girl who… lived here..."

He paused.

"You okay?" The Nisse asked, sounding a bit concerned.

"Yeah." Wood Man replied. "Got a little lost in the moment."

"I take it you knew this girl?"

"Indeed. Before she left, she befriended a giant."

"I guess she learned her lesson?"

"…We'll probably never know for sure." Wood Man replied, wavering a bit. "But if I were to bet, not likely. If she were still around, odds are… she'd do it again."

* * *

**Johanna's House**

**Daytime**

Alfur sat out the window, gears still turning in his head. "_Still no word from the other elves…_" Alfur thought. "_I hope they got the message_."

Suddenly, he noticed a squirrel arrive, with another elf on top of it. "Are you Alfur Aldric?"

"Yes, that's me." Alfur replied.

"I got your e-mail. Figured I'd come here personally." The elf replied. "I have the information you seek."

"Y-you do?"

"Yes." The elf answered. "It's the name of her father."


End file.
